Class Notes 2000

Happy 2024 from guest columnist Brian Feldman.

After losing his first wife (Anne Geiger, Yale ’98) to breast cancer in 2016, Dave Gacioch and his kids, Tom and Eleanor, formed a new Brady Bunch family with Curran Schiefelbein (Brown ’01) and her sons, John and Henry, after Curran lost her husband to melanoma. They’re getting married in May! Dave is a healthcare litigator at McDermott Will & Emery, a youth soccer coach, and a volunteer dabbling in local government in Brookline, Massachusetts.

Walker Holmes has been living for 15 years in New Haven, Connecticut, with Justin Neuman ’99 and their two kids. She is a vice president at Trust for Public Land, a not-for-profit with a mission to connect everyone to the outdoors. She also teaches land conservation at the Yale School of the Environment.

Chuck Divak lives in Brooklyn and is a television and film editor, currently editing a series from the director of Tiger King that will air on HBO in the summer. He also has two boys (5 and 3) who are very passionate about dinosaurs. Chuck wants to meet any paleontologists in our class!

Jonathan Light was recently promoted to general counsel of Paratek Pharmaceuticals, after playing a pivotal role in taking the company from publicly traded on NASDAQ to privately held. Jonathan lives in the Philadelphia suburbs and is “a proud dad to Connor (12), playing MLS Next soccer, and Aubrey (10), traveling the country for all-star cheerleading.”

Leigh Johnson is living in east Tennessee, working as an outpatient family physician. Her husband Abraham works at a not-for-profit, and they have two “wild sons.” Leigh recently got together with Bea Radakovich and Meghan (Bodkin) Lopez. She reports, “Life here in our little Appalachian mountain town is busy and full!”

Rob Ristagno’s family is settling into the Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina, area, where he is president of international for Vistage Worldwide, a CEO-coaching and peer-to-peer learning organization. The job has taken him “around the girdled earth—London, Copenhagen, Buenos Aires, Kuala Lumpur, and more,” often with his wife, Kate, and girls Helena (“Leni,” 6) and Emilia (“Mila,” 3).

After graduation Sam Desai extended his college days by moving to Boston with Dartmouth friends Thad Glowacki, Evan Greenbaum, Dan Siegel, and Chris Welty and working at Genzyme. In 2005 Sam received his law degree from Villanova and then practiced intellectual property law in N.Y.C. and D.C. Now, Sam lives in Delray Beach, Florida, and serves as in-house counsel for Hetero US, a generic pharmaceutical company with headquarters in India. He enjoys spending time with his wife, Kari, and their two boys, Ty (9) and Ryder (7), golfing, and not raising “Florida Men.”

Ben Berk took advantage of his relatively flexible gig in health information tech by summering in Europe before dropping his daughter in London for university. They lived in a VW camper van exploring the Alps and caught up with Lilly Wollman and Daniel Ofer ’03. Back home in Chicago, Ben’s wife, Emily, works at a local climbing gym and their boys, 12 and 15, are deep into science and tech. “We recently saw Guster from a kayak on the Chicago River!”

In L.A. Todd Piro is gearing up to cover the 2024 election and all the legal entanglements that go with that on both sides of the aisle. And Eric Buchman, while still working in television and hosting the Fake Presidents podcast with Ben Oren, created a scripted audio drama for Audible set to be released in 2024.

Thanks for all of the news and send your next updates to Kate, contact info below.

—Kate (Ryan) Stowe, 91 Waterman Place, St. Louis, MO 63112; dartmouth2000secretary@gmail.com

Greetings from Karen Liot Hill, guest editor for this column.

Give a rouse for David Schleicher, who recently published In a Bad State: Responding to State and Local Budget Crises with Oxford University Press. Currently a professor at Yale Law School, David’s book provides the first comprehensive historical and theoretical analysis of how the federal government has addressed city and state debt crises. Puts me right back to senior year and the quality time I spent in the stacks working on my govy thesis!

Did you see the February Dartmouth Alumni Newsarticle about Big Green love stories? One of the sweet stories is Jay Artz and Laura Zoeller Artz, who met freshman year and married on campus in 2002. They celebrated their 20th anniversary last summer in Maui, Hawaii, and by the time this issue comes out it will be time to congratulate them on their 21st anniversary.

Kim Keith Bergland is now vice president of development for Disney Jr. She announced recently that she has been working on an upcoming series, The Little Mermaid. “We’ve taken Ariel back in time to when she was 8 and still full of curiosity and adventure (and Sebastian is still trying to keep up with her!). It was a blast helping to build the world and characters—old and new. It’s coming to your screens in the near future.”

I ran into Ross Fenderson during the winter when he was doing some business in the Upper Valley at King Arthur Flour. He is currently general manager for Bay State Milling Co., which was named one of the “2023 Best Managed Companies” in the eastern United States by Deloitte. Ross is also busy with kids’ activities and volunteering in the community. He has served on the board of the Sara Holbrook Community Center in Vermont’s Chittenden County for 10 years—doing good work in the Northeast!

Speaking of the Northeast, I enjoyed Jenny Platt Toyohara’s skiing pics on social media this winter. From Mont Tremblant in Canada to the mountains of Vermont, she and her kids had fun on the slopes! Jenny is currently president of the Massachusetts Academy of Dermatology and is a strong advocate for skin health. Safe to say that Jenny would want us all to wear sunscreen!

My teenager, Zoe, and I did a college visit road trip during spring break and spent a wonderful day with Hoi Ning Ngai at Bates College, where she is the director of employer engagement and business advising at the Bates Center for Purposeful Work. Walking around the Bates campus with Hoi Ning made me very sentimental for those early days at Dartmouth. Do you remember doing college visits with your parents?

Life is good in the Upper Valley. I was recently elected to my 10th term on the Lebanon city council, where I have made economic development, sustainability, and social justice my focus during the past two decades. Soon it will be time to move on to another challenge, but for now there is plenty more work to do at the local level.

If you are doing college visits with your teenagers, I’d love to hear from you. And if you visit Dartmouth, I’d love to catch up when you’re in Hanover! You can reach me at karenliothill@gmail.com

—Kate (Ryan) Stowe, 91 Waterman Place, St. Louis, MO 63112; dartmouth2000secretary@gmail.com

Hello, ’00s!

Brian Feldman here, guest columnist for this issue. My middle child, Jonah, a 9-year-old boy, thinks it’s hilarious that his dad is writing this DAM column.

For those interested in a higher level of humor, join me in listening to the podcast produced by classmates Eric Buchman and Benjamin Oren, Fake Presidents. Eric describes himself as a “former political consultant turned TV writer” and Ben is a “former journalist, sometimes speechwriter, and all-the-time TV producer.” The podcast boasts a five-star rating on Apple Podcasts, including one from someone named “Big Green Dad,” who just might be one of you!

Speaking of Big Green dads, Nils Ericson had his third (and last, he claims) kiddo, a little boy named Sonnie. Nils reports: “We are still (somehow) in Portland, Oregon. I had a chance to reconnect with Matt Hood here in town, along with Mary Ellis Arnold and Ben Arnold in San Francisco. I’m still traveling and making photographs of all sorts of things—the North Shore of Hawaii for the Billabong Pipeline Masters most recently.”

I ran into Erica (Blachman) Hitchings of the Whistleblower Law Collaborative, along with Jake Shields ’99, at a Federal Bar Association conference. Erica reports that she moved back to the Boston area with her husband, Seth Hitchings, in 2018. Erica now represents whistleblowers in fraud and other cases, which has given her many opportunities to collaborate with fellow Dartmouth alums in the field, including Melanie Kay, who is serving as director of the University of Colorado Law Daniels Fund Ethics Initiative, as well as Matt Benedetto, Michael Ronickher ’03, and Edward Baker ’89.

In medical news, New Hampshire Magazine listed Sarah Taylor-Black as a top allergy and immunology doctor, Matthew Babineau as a top emergency medicine doctor, and Marcus Coe as a top orthopedic surgeon in its 2023 rankings. Sarah works at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center and runs into Erica Wygonik when their paths cross in the world of kids’ soccer.

Moving west with the doctor theme, Cheryl (Shannon) Pirozzi and Michael Pirozzi live in Salt Lake City, Utah, where Cheryl is a pulmonologist at the University of Utah and Mike is a hospitalist and administrator at Intermountain Healthcare. They report: “We are enjoying the climbing, biking, skiing, and canyoneering in Utah, and we love adventuring with our daughters Rosie (13), Juniper (10), and Sylvie (7).”

Out on the West Coast, another doctor, Sunil Verma, is an otolaryngology-head and neck surgeon. Sunil is assistant dean for clinical affairs at the University of California-Irvine’s School of Medicine, where he is also a professor and the director of the university’s voice and swallowing center. You can watch him in action on an episode of The Doctors, where he visualizes vocal cords by placing a camera through the nose of a classically trained singer. Sunil and his wife, Rakhee, a radiologist, have three kids: Akshay (14), Avi (10), and Reva (6).

Back east, and in the world of dentistry, Richard Dickinson, D.M.D., is practicing in his hometown of St. Albans, Vermont. Rich ran into Kelly Heaps, a vice president at Crest & Oral-B Professional Oral Health, at a conference in Boston in late January. Rich was on the tradeshow floor to help his spouse, Tasha (Sakaguchi) Dickinson ’05, who founded a managed services provider for dental practices called Siligent. Rich would love to connect with other ’00s who went into dentistry. Rich and Tasha live in northwestern Vermont with kids Damien (13), Rilen (10), and Genevieve (7).

Thanks to all, from Brian! Please send updates to Kate Stowe at dartmouth2000secretary@gmail.com.

—Kate (Ryan) Stowe, 91 Waterman Place, St. Louis, MO 63112; dartmouth2000secretary@gmail.com

Greetings from Karen Liot Hill, guest columnist for this edition of Class Notes. It’s Homecoming Weekend, and I am headed to the alumni parade and bonfire after I finish these notes. I’m looking forward to seeing my daughter, Marina Liot ’21, who is coming home from New York City for the weekend. Yay!

Class president Joseph Scott sends greetings from Carlisle Barracks, Pennsylvania. After several weeks of cross-country driving, a battle with Covid, and a Disney cruise to Alaska, he reports that Team Copeland-Scott is getting settled in their home—for the next year at least.

Joe Brown has been in Hawaii since 2017 and sent in this update: “This summer I received tenure and promotion to associate professor of mechanical engineering at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa, effective August 1. Also I got married on July 23 to my love Carl V. Brown (né Casanova), who is a servicemember in the U.S. Army.

“We had a backyard ceremony in Mililani, Oahu, Hawaii, and also managed to livestream on Zoom to friends and family around the world. John Brett officiated and among the guests were some other Dartmouth alums, namely Heather Stewart, Tico Blumenthal ’02, Victoria Moy ’03, and Krispin Leydon ’99. Earlier in the summer I managed to cross paths with Joe Scott before he left Hawaii.”

On the other side of the world from Hawaii, Andre Bishay is living in Switzerland with his growing family. “My wife, Valentina, and I moved from New York to Zug, Switzerland, two years ago,” he wrote. “Our 3-year-old son Arik already prefers Swiss-German to English and our daughter, Maya, just turned 1.” Andre has recently established a family office in Zug, Araya Global Management GmbH, and he invites any classmates who may be in the area to be in touch. The Bishays are 20 minutes from Zurich by train.

Brian Feldman and his wife welcomed their third child—and first daughter—Tessa, this past August 12. He reports that Tessa’s two older brothers, Asa (11) and Jonah (9), couldn’t be more proud! Brian is a partner at Harter Secrest & Emery LLP in Rochester, New York.

And that does it for me. Time to put on my Dartmouth jacket and head to the parade and bonfire, where I hope to see many ’00 classmates and get more updates for the next edition of Class Notes. Be sure to send us your news and updates to share in upcoming magazines. We love to hear from you!

—Kate (Ryan) Stowe, 91 Waterman Place, St. Louis, MO 63112; dartmouth2000secretary@gmail.com

Karen Liot Hill, guest secretary, takes over this issue’s column.

The fun part of living in the Upper Valley is always feeling at least a bit connected to the College, from football and hockey games to the Homecoming bonfire and alumni parade. You should come back for Homecoming this year—and bring partners and kids! It’s a good time.

The fun part of doing Class Notes is re-connecting with people from our college days. This edition includes updates from some of our classmates I had the pleasure of hearing from.

Sebastian Barreveld sent in this wonderful report about Ned Dybvig’s wedding, which saw many classmates in attendance and was surely a fabulous party. “Antje (Herlyn) Barreveld and I were fortunate to attend the very regal wedding of Ned Dybvig and Georgina Rawkins at the Royal Hospital Chelsea, London, on November 20, 2021. It was great to spend time with old Dartmouth friends including Errik Anderson, Lacary Sharpe, Katherine Kim, Lilly Wollman, Caroline Hribar, Ryan Jones, Brent Edwards, Jake Elberg, Carolyn (Cummins) Addison, Ram Murali ’99, and Mike Holick ’01. We wish them the best—and many more travels together.

“Keeping the hill winds in her breath, Antje has been running, biking, and skiing around the Northeast, recently completing the Boston Marathon and the Mount Washington Inferno Pentathlon. Her family is proud of her but wishes that she would find a less time-consuming hobby!

“We’re excited for Chuck Horrell and Susan (Gordon) Horrell ’06 and their impending move to Lyme, New Hampshire, with their kiddos to, in Chuck’s words, ‘Live free or die.’ ”

I know that many of us can also relate to this being a very busy season of our lives, as Anita Hamalainen reports: “Scott Snyder and I have an architectural and interior design practice in the Upper Valley. Additionally, Scott teaches engineering at Thayer and I work at the VA Medical Center as an interior designer. We have four kids: Jamie is 14, Kai and Leo are 11, and Isa is 5. Between work, Scouts, piano lessons, baseball, and musical rehearsals, we haven’t had a free moment in 14 years.”

From across the “girdled earth,” Andre Bishay sends in this update from Switzerland: “My wife, Valentina, and I moved from New York to Zug, Switzerland, two years ago. Our 3-year-old son Arik already prefers Swiss-German to English and our daughter, Maya, just turned 1. If classmates are in the area (we are 20 minutes from Zürich by train) feel free to get in touch.”

Tom Kanter has been attending the Harvard program for leadership development. Tom and Erin (Chisholm) Kanter live in New Canaan, Connecticut, with their two daughters, Lillian and Vivian. (Shout out to freshman-year fourth-floor French. Woot, woot!)

And right here in Hanover some of our classmates are getting together to relive their college years! From Lindsay Bowen Coe: “Our class field hockey players—Kristen Leadbeater Paasch, Kristen Scopaz, Lauren Scopaz, Rebecca Sangster and myself—will play together at the Dartmouth field hockey reunion this April. We are pumped to play together again after 21-plus years and celebrate 50 years of women’s athletics at Dartmouth. Up, up, Big Green!”

Thank you to all the classmates who sent in updates. It is so fun to share in some of the milestones and moments of life through the years. Please send in any updates to dartmouth2000 secretary@gmail.com. And I look forward to seeing many of you in person at our 25th reunion in 2025, if not before.

—Kate (Ryan) Stowe, 91 Waterman Place, St. Louis, MO 63112; dartmouth2000secretary@gmail.com

Greetings from Karen Liot Hill, guest editor for this edition. As I write this in December, it’s a snowy day in the Upper Valley, and the College looks like a scene from a Hallmark movie, with the enormous Christmas tree twinkling in the center of the Green. Snowball fight, anyone? 

College photographer Eli Burakian caught some incredible photos from the Dartmouth Homecoming bonfire this year, which made alumni of all generations feel connected to our alma mater, despite the pandemic preventing many of us from gathering in person on the Hanover Plain. See his fave pics of 2021 at https://home.dartmouth.edu/news/2021/12/best-photos-2021. When Eli isn’t flexing his photography skills, he runs ultramarathons, and completed his first backyard-format ultramarathon this year, taking second place with 25 laps and 104 miles.

Jennifer Platt was voted president of the Massachusetts Academy of Dermatology in the fall. Thanks to Instagram, I have seen her leadership skills at work firsthand (@wasabipea00). Recently, she has been rallying her colleagues to testify before the Massachusetts legislature to protect access to healthcare. Go, Japes!

Robert Dapice was named executive director and CEO of New Hampshire Housing in December 2021. As part of New Hampshire Housing’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic, Rob led the effort to provide critical assistance through the creation of New Hampshire Housing’s shelter modification program and the emergency assistance loan fund. Rob was a captain in the U.S. Army and served in Iraq. Now he is on the front lines of the housing crisis in New Hampshire.

Emily and Jolyon Pruszinski are making their home in Princeton, New Jersey, where Emily is completing two master’s programs at Princeton Theological Seminary and working as director of family ministries at Trinity Church. Jolyon has been lecturing at Princeton University and published his first book, An Ecology of Scriptures: Experiences of Dwelling Behind Early Jewish and Christian Texts. Emily says she has been helping their kids with online school throughout the pandemic, which I’m sure many of us can relate to!

The class of 2000 executive committee met (via Zoom) in December 2021 and heard updates from our class president Joe Scott, who told us about the College’s response to Covid-19 and the attention being given to mental health and well-being during the continuing challenges of teaching and learning amid the pandemic. Joe and his family are stationed with the U.S. Army in Hawaii, where the only complaint he has about the weather was a little “vog” (volcanic fog from the eruption on the Big Island) in the air during Thanksgiving. Nima Binara is our new representative to the Alumni Council and is eager to bring issues forward that are important to us. Be sure to get in touch if you have any questions or feedback for him to bring to the Alumni Council. Lindsay Coe is one of our class agents for the Dartmouth College Fund, where her goal is to get us all to participate in annual giving to the College. We are starting to do some preliminary planning for our 25th reunion (!) in June 2025.

Send us your news and updates to share in upcoming magazines. We love to hear from you. And if you’re in town, hit me up and let’s grab drinks at the Hanover Inn (karenliothill@gmail.com)!

—Kate (Ryan) Stowe, 91 Waterman Place, St. Louis, MO 63112; dartmouth2000secretary@gmail.com

Hi, classmates. Look for upcoming notes from guest columnist Karen Liot Hill, who will be writing three columns for us this year. Send your news!

—Kate (Ryan) Stowe, 91 Waterman Place, St. Louis, MO 63112; dartmouth2000secretary@gmail.com

Greetings from Karen Liot Hill, guest columnist for this issue. In March I won a hotly contested re-election to the city council of Lebanon, New Hampshire, where I am now in my 17th year. My biggest news, however, is that my daughter, Marina Liot ’21, graduated from the College this year and starts at Goldman Sachs in New York City in July. I hope she will be the first of many alums among the next generation of our class!

Eddie Le and his wife, Novi, moved back to his hometown of San Diego, where he runs a mergers and acquisitions boutique. They are fortunate to be surrounded by their entire family, making for happy kids, happy grandparents, and lots of date nights for Eddie and Novi! Eddie reports that during the pandemic he drove up to Laguna Beach with Ben Pratt to meet Eric Andersen for romantic picnic lunches on the beach. Shoutout to Eric for always bringing the food!

Kim Keith Berglund sends greetings from Los Angeles, where she lives with husband Andy Berglund and two kids. She oversees TV development at Disney Junior and has spent the past pandemic year hiking, taking online dance classes, and collecting too many indoor plants.

Ben Berk sent in this note: “After two healthcare provider startups, I’ve come full circle back to health information technology. Emily (Wellesley ’00) and I gut-renovated a Chicago house built in 1890, doing much of the work ourselves, including furniture built from former walls. Our kids have appreciated the space during the pandemic—Annabel got her driver’s permit and recorded an album, Simon ranked in a North America Fortnite competition, and Oliver enjoyed his turns at demolition. I recently reunited with Jason Peoples and Landis Fryer ’99 and hang often with Beau River around a backyard fire pit.”

Hoi Ning Ngai is currently living her best life in Maine, where she is an associate director at the Bates College Center for Purposeful Work and a current interim associate dean. She was recently invited by the senior class to be its baccalaureate speaker! During the past two years she has gotten to explore more of the state and its offerings thanks to the Ladies Adventure Club of Maine, including cross-country skiing (which she’ll never do again), snowshoeing, and rifle shooting (which she’ll definitely do again). In her spare time she explores the local food scene and welcomes any visitors to join in her quests for new nibbles.

Congratulations are in order for Lori Morlock, whose powerful debut, an historical novel about environmental activist Marjory Stoneman Douglas, comes out this June! Look for Among the Beautiful Beasts under the penname Lori McMullen.

Coming full circle back to the Upper Valley, as Kate wrote in an earlier column, Nick Russell and Jen Caine welcomed baby Natalie to their crew in the fall. The pandemic has allowed us to spend lots of time together (and, regrettably, little time with anyone else!). Jen continues to teach as part of the studio art faculty at the College and to pursue her studio practice, and Nick recently stepped into the managing partner role at his small Hanover-based private equity investment firm, where he’s looking to grow his team.

Send us your news and updates to share in upcoming magazines. We love to hear from you! And while we can’t be together for our (kind of) 20th reunion this summer, be sure to put our 25th reunion on your calendar for June 2025!

—Kate (Ryan) Stowe, 91 Waterman Place, St. Louis, MO 63112; dartmouth2000secretary@gmail.com

Hello, ’00s. It feels good to be writing my last column of 2020. By the time you read this, I hope many of us will have our vaccinations and life will be on its way back to normal or “new normal,” if you moved or made other big life changes due to the pandemic. I’m going to highlight some of those in the next issue, so please let me know—did remote work allow you to pick up and move to a dream location? Did you leave a city in search of more space? Did you hop in an RV and tour the country?

We have a couple of new members of the next generation, both born in October last year. Congratulations to Allison Aab on her daughter, Ella, who joins big brother Hunter, age 2. Allison and her husband, Max, live in Toronto. And Nick Russell and Jennifer Caine welcomed baby Natalie, who joins older siblings William and Marguerite.

Finally, I’d like to introduce a new feature—Class Notes fantasy draft! Kamie Twomey sent me a note in December as follows: “If you are reading this, you are probably like me and flip to the Class Notes first thing upon receiving the Dartmouth mag. Lately, it’s been painfully empty, only adding to the disappointment of 2020. During the past few months, I’ve been relegated to reading about ’99s and ’01s and sometimes even ’02s. Sad. In my pandemic-induced copious spare time, I’ve found myself thinking, ‘I wonder what happened to [insert long-lost Dartmouth classmate name]?’ As such, I’m making a cry for Class Notes content from five people in hopes of quelling my monthly disappointment. So, whatever happened to Dana Loebman, Britt Myers, Jeremy Hammond, Jelena Madir, and Mike Poncy? You five, we would love to hear your story and the five people you’ve been wondering about.”

Thanks for the great idea, Kamie. I’ll be following up with these five nominees for updates and asking who they would like to hear from next. And if any of you, dear readers, would like to nominate yourselves, send in an update and your five draft picks. Best wishes for a good start to 2021!

—Kate (Ryan) Stowe; dartmouthsecretary2000@gmail.com

Hello, classmates.

I am writing this column deep in the pandemic, at the end of August, when many of us are likely preoccupied with making arrangements for our children while schools are closed this fall. I hope things are looking brighter as 2021 draws closer.

Michael Leong, who teaches at California Institute of the Arts, recently published a critical study, Contested Records: The Turn to Documents in Contemporary North American Poetry. He says the book “accounts for why so many contemporary poets have turned to source material, from newspapers to governmental records, as inspiration for their poetry and argues that if bureaucracy and documentation have the power to police and traumatize through the exercise of state power, then so, too, can document-based poetry function as an unofficial, counterhegemonic, and popular practice that authenticates marginalized experiences at the fringes of our cultural memory.” Michael lives in Los Angeles.

Max Gross also published a book, a novel called The Lost Shtetl. He says it is a story about a Jewish village in Poland that is so insignificant and hermetic that it is completely overlooked by the Nazis in World War II and the Soviets thereafter, only to come crashing into the 21st century after a marriage dispute spins out of control. Max is a former staff writer for The New York Post and The Forward and is currently editor-in-chief of the Commercial Observer. He lives in New York City with his wife and son.

Congratulations to Tracey Deer, who received the Toronto International Film Festival’s Emerging Talent Award this fall. “Tracey is an authentic, leading Indigenous voice globally and one the industry should watch closely,” according the film festival’s codirector. Tracey debuted her first feature film, Beans, this year. It’s a semiautobiographical tale of a 12-year-old Mohawk girl named Beans, who is torn between innocent childhood and reckless adolescence; forced to grow up fast and become the tough Mohawk warrior she needs to be during the Oka Crisis, the turbulent Indigenous uprising that tore Quebec and Canada apart for 78 tense days in the summer of 1990.

Happy holidays—and keep me in mind for all of your updates in the new year!

—Kate (Ryan) Stowe, 91 Waterman Place, St. Louis, MO 63112; dartmouth2000secretary@gmail.com

Hello, ’00s.

As Meaghan (Fanning) Karczewski told Jess (Margolin) Fenton on the bus en route to freshman trips way back in 1996, lots of Dartmouth people marry each other. Our class’ experience certainly seems to support that, anecdotally. In fact, both Meaghan and Jess met their eventual spouses on campus. In honor of this being our Valentine’s Day issue, I did a little data mining to see exactly how many of us married classmates. The number is pretty surprising! By my best estimate, at least 53 (!) marriages exist today because Dartmouth College brought together the class of 2000. A full 10 percent of us married classmates—and that doesn’t even count those of us who married other Dartmouth alums.

In more recent news, congratulations to Brenda Withers, whose cyber mystery play, Jordan, opened at Northern Stage last fall in White River Junction, Vermont. The play explores the pros and cons of social media and email—networks that can lead to connection as well as to misunderstanding and malfeasance.

Debbie (Godsoe) Rand was inducted into the Old Town (Maine) High School’s athletic hall of fame for her swimming achievements. Congrats to Debbie for still holding multiple records at her high school—wow!

Gerry Cadava is a fellow at the Stanford University Humanities Center this year, where he is working on a book about Hispanic conservatism and the making of modern Latino politics. His permanent gig is at Northwestern, where he is a history professor. You might also be seeing his very impressive wife, Kathleen Belew, frequently in the news as an expert commentator—she is a history professor at the University of Chicago and an authority on the white-power movement in the United States.

Congratulations to Jelena Madir on the publication of her book, FinTech: Law and Regulation, which is a compilation of insights on legal and regulatory issues in crypto-assets, initial coin offerings, blockchain, and other innovations in the global financial marketplace. Jelena is the director and chief counsel at the European Bank of Reconstruction and Development in London.

Finally, an update on last year’s giving challenge issued by the Alumni Fund: Our class did not achieve the 45-percent participation level required to endow a scholarship in our name, but we did set a class record for participation, and with the help of matching funds from an anonymous donor we will be fully funding one student for this academic year. Let’s do even better next year!

With apologies to those I Google-stalked.

—Kate (Ryan) Stowe, 91 Waterman Place, St. Louis, MO 63112; dartmouth2000secretary@gmail.com

Hello, ’00s! First, a mystery for us to solve: I got a sweet note from Emily Fletcher ’13, who related an encounter with one of our classmates in North Cascades National Park in July. She and her fiancée, Katie Adams ’13, were hiking and didn’t bring any insect repellent. As Emily tells it, “Finally, as we were getting truly desperate, a kind stranger offered us his 100-percent DEET (praise!) and he turned out to be a Dartmouth ’00 visiting from Minneapolis! We reminisced about Hanover, discussed rugby, and sang a line of the alma mater before continuing on our respective ways, and it was a lovely moment of Dartmouth fellowship in the mountains of the Pacific Northwest.” Mystery mosquito-vanquishing, possible rugby-playing Minneapolis ’00, reveal yourself, please.

Mike Lewis has a new venture, Onward, a secure ride service for seniors and others who need assistance. Onward drivers are trained to deliver passengers door-to-door and to fold wheelchairs and provide basic medical assistance, if needed. Mike’s cofounder and fellow serial entrepreneur is Nader Akhnoukh ’99—the two of them sold their prior tech startup, Kapost, for $50 million. Congrats to Mike and Nader!

Serin Houston recently published a book, Imagining Seattle: Social Values in Urban Governance. She examines the translation of sustainability, creativity, and social justice from concept into practice within Seattle’s urban governance and discusses why and how racialized and classed inequities often accompany such translations. Serin is a professor of geography and international relations at Mount Holyoke College.

Congrats are also in order for Kate (Graw) Lamond, who was inducted in the Chesapeake, Virginia, chapter of the U.S. Lacrosse Hall of Fame this year. Kate is a plastic surgeon and lives in Washington, D.C., with her husband and two adorable young children.

Anne Mullins is the new president of the Association of Legal Writing Directors, and chaired its national legal writing conference during the summer. Congrats on the major recognition from your colleagues, Anne!

Did any of you celebrate class of 200(0)th day on July 20? I was lucky to be visiting Kate (Christiaanse) Fenwick at her new home in Woodside, California, along with Debbie (Godsoe) Rand, Meaghan (Fanning) Karczewski, Cabray Haines, Whitney (Hale) Gardiner, Catherine (Kahl) Miliaras, Brook Cosby, Caroline Hribar, Christina Dam, Charlotte (Zukowski) Sullivan, and Jessica (Margolin) Fenton.

Thanks for all of the news for this issue—keep it coming!

—Kate (Ryan) Stowe, 91 Waterman Place, St. Louis, MO 63112; dartmouth2000secretary@gmail.com

Hello, ’00s! Our class vice president, Athena Maikish, and her wife, Christine, welcomed their third child, Amelia Grace, this winter. Amelia joins big brother Abram and big sister Anna, who are 5. Athena and her family live in Mamaroneck, New York, where Athena is currently advising startups, refining her family photography skills, and managing her twins’ modeling career (seriously!). You can spot Abram and Anna in ads for Ralph Lauren, Gap Inc., and Target, among other retailers. I was lucky enough to see some photos of them with their new little sister and they are all outrageously cute.

—Kate (Ryan) Stowe, 91 Waterman Place, St. Louis, MO 6311; dartmouth2000secretary@gmail.com

Congrats to Dara Sanandaji on the premiere of his new documentary film about mental health, Breaking the Silence. In it he explores broad questions about mental health and the human brain. He wrote, produced, and codirected the film. He lives in Chicago.

Nils Ericson was recently named one of the “100 Coolest Dads in America” by the digital publication Fatherly, which says his home photos “are much better than your home photos.” For his part, Nils said, “I want my photos to feel like black and white, but in color.” He’s a Protland, Oregon-based professional photographer and he and his partner, Regina, are parents to a young son, Emmett.

Ben Wakelin’s architectural career is thriving—he was promoted to associate at ELS Architecture & Urban Design in Berkeley, California. His work includes reconfiguring the Stonestown Galleria mall in San Francisco. He and his wife have two children and live in the Bay Area.

Finally, and sadly, I wanted to note the news of Carrie Dunsmore’s passing last summer. Many of you probably read a moving article about her that was published in The Boston Globe. She died of complications of colon cancer. She leaves behind a beautiful family—husband Jon Flynn and children Nate, Peter, and Nora—as well as a legacy of public service in the law and love of our national parks and of reading good books (see her blog, Queen of Booklandia).

Until next issue.

—Kate Stowe, 91 Waterman Place, St. Louis, MO 63112; dartmouth2000secretary@gmail.com
 

Hello, ’00s! Our fearless leader, class president Joseph Scott, assumed command of the U.S. Army’s 3rd Battalion, 6th Air Defense Artillery Regiment, at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, in March. Joe’s battalion trains American and Allied military personnel on the use of the Patriot air defense system and the terminal high-altitude area defense system. He also oversees a small detachment of soldiers at White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico that conducts testing on emerging air defense technology. As part of his preparations for command, Joe went to Fort Jackson, South Carolina, in October 2017 for a couple of weeks of training. There he was able to meet up with Jen Bess, who currently works as a director of national fellowships for the University of South Carolina Honors College. Congratulations, Joe!

Allison Aab sent in some good news: “My husband, Max Brunet, and I welcomed my first child (he has two kids from his previous marriage), a little boy, Hudson Brunet, on April 24 here in Toronto. Hudson is doing great, and I am very grateful for the generous Canadian year-long maternity leave!”

Turning to publications, Michael Leong just published another book, a collection of poetry called Words on Edge. In the words of the publisher, “Leong superimposes the following layers onto the reader’s experience of his latest contemporary poems: politics, chaos, hilarity, language, meaning, and camouflage. He uses language to show us all how language is used to manipulate everything we experience.” Michael is an assistant professor of English at the University at Albany, SUNY.

Rob Ristango recently wrote the book A Member is Worth a Thousand Visitors: A Proven Method for Making More Money Online. It’s a guide for content providers to sharpen their digital strategies and increase revenue. Rob is the CEO of the Sterling Woods Group, LLC, a digital marketing advisory firm in Needham, Massachusetts.

Finally, a note on another one of our class officers: Molly (Gregg) Otter welcomed her third child in May, a daughter named Beatrice. She and her family moved from Seattle to Boise, Idaho, at the end of July.

Thank you for the updates, and I hope to hear from more of you soon.

—Kate Ryan Stowe, 849 26th Ave., San Francisco, CA 94121; dartmouth2000secretary@gmail.com

Happy summer, ’00s! Writing our class year reminds me that I recently attended a Dartmouth event with a lot of more recent grads, and when I introduced myself as a “zero,” the attendees burst out laughing. You know you’ve been gone a long time when no one has even heard your class year mentioned before!

On a happier note, as we round the bend into our 40s, the ’00s continue to log personal and professional achievements. Geoff Nickerson was recently elected president of the Falmouth Road Race, which organizes one of the premier running events of the summer season, drawing Olympians, elite and recreational runners. Geoff, a lawyer, lives in Falmouth, Massachusetts, with wife Kristin and daughter Charlotte and is highly involved in his community—he’s also vice chairman of the Falmouth Chamber of Commerce and board member of a local bank, among other civic commitments.

Todd Piro joined Fox News Channel in June as a general assignment reporter on the Fox & Friends morning show. He also contributes to the Breakfast with Friends diner series, which showcases how Americans across the country feel about the political news of the day. Todd practiced law for five years in Los Angeles at Hughes Hubbard & Reed LLP before switching to a career in television news.

What are your summer plans? Is anyone taking families to camp at Dartmouth? I look forward to your updates.

—Kate Ryan Stowe, 849 26th Ave., San Francisco, CA 94121; dartmouth2000secretary@gmail.com

Hello, classmates! Thanks to lots of you who have sent in news recently. Hoi Ning Ngai wrote to say, “I’ve taken on a new role as the associate dean for student affairs at the graduate school at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill! And I’ve moved to Chapel Hill! Paul Nicklas ’01 was sweet enough to fly out from Maine to UHaul me from Columbus to Chapel Hill. And I’m excited to connect with Jeremy Works, who recently moved down to the Research Triangle with his family from Washington, D.C., as well as Dana Neutze, Jessica Meed, Laura Brockway Sirianni ’02 and I hope many others in the area!”

Joe Brown had a career update from academia as well: “I moved to Honolulu in July this past summer after 11 years in Boulder, Colorado, and I’m quite happy here so far, getting outside as much as possible when I’m not at work. In August I started a job as a tenure-track assistant professor of mechanical engineering at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, here in Honolulu. Currently I’m teaching a materials science lecture class and I’ll be building a research group here around my long-term work on mechanical engineering of nanotechnology. Also, my first paper in this job was just published in the ASME Journal of Applied Mechanics; during the last 18 months I worked out an analytical mathematical model for interlocking snap-fit structures. I’d like to invite anyone passing through Oahu to get in touch and say hi.”

During the summer Caitlin Bronner welcomed her third child, Emma Isabella Bronner Lindberg. Caitlin says, “Big siblings Charlotte (age 7) and William (age 2) are excited about Emma’s arrival, and my husband, Martin Lindberg, and I are thrilled. In other news, I continue to practice law in New York, where I am a partner in the firm of Ingram Yuzek Gainen Carroll & Bertolotti, LLP, specializing in complex commercial litigation.”

I learned from the Internet that Brenda Withers was named one of two Huntington playwriting fellows in the 2017-19 cohort at Boston’s Huntington Theatre Company. She was selected from a pool of 50 applicants for the two-year residency program. The theater’s director of new work cited her “tremendous gift for creating surprising and emotional arcs for actors.” Congratulations, Brenda!

Thanks for all the news for this issue—keep the updates coming!

—Kate Ryan Stowe, 849 26th Ave., San Francisco, CA 94121; dartmouth2000secretary@gmail.com

After a two-year sojourn in Adelaide, Australia, for Mike’s work, Debbie and Mike Rand returned to the United States during the summer. They are back in Ridgefield, Connecticut, where daughter Emily, 8, and son Simon, 5, will this fall be entering third grade and kindergarten, respectively. Many of our classmates enjoyed following their Australian adventures through Debbie’s stunning photography. Although I am sad about the retirement of the best hashtag ever, #IcomefromaRanddownunder, we are thrilled to welcome back the Rands!

Viki Zoltay has been battling chronic Lyme disease for several years. At the time of this writing, she had identified a new treatment protocol in Germany and was planning to travel there during the summer for an intensive multi-week course of therapy. Viki lives in Boston and has been able to keep working part-time as a hydrologist for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Her treatment and travel have been very costly thus far. She has a page set up at YouCaring.com—search for her name if you would like to make a donation to help her with her medical expenses. I know we are all sending best wishes to her for a full recovery.

Brook Cosby shared that Hyde, the organic cotton yoga clothing company she’s been a co-owner and director of since 2011, has recently moved all operations to California. The line will be made in Los Angeles going forward. Check out the new collection at yogahyde.com. 

Lastly, a reminder that Homecoming Weekend is October 6-7. The football team is playing Yale. Hope to see lots of ’00s in attendance! I hope everyone had a great summer—keep the news coming.

—Kate Ryan Stowe, 849 26th Ave., San Francisco, CA 94121; dartmouth2000secretary@gmail.com

Greetings, ’00s! Lots of great news this month—keep the updates coming.

Ben Patch and his wife, Julia Chmaj, moved back to Brooklyn after five years in Chattanooga, Tennsessee. Julia is working with Susannah Drake ’86 at her renowned landscape architecture firm, dLand Studio. Ben is continuing work with his family’s green energy business, Enerfit, and resuming IT consulting projects in New York. At the end of 2015 he wrote and released an album on iTunes, Near Fatal Memory Error. Playing almost all of the instruments himself, he produced the music as part of his rehabilitation from a near-fatal fall and resulting brain injury that occurred in 2013. After a lot of hard work, he has made a complete recovery.

Kristin (Veley) Markovich published her second book, Kids & Pups: Play Days in Central Park. Using the pen name Kristin Arden, she collaborated with a photographer to document the love, friendship and humor that result when children frolic with their dogs in the park.

Marcia (Yablon) Zug recently published her first book, Buying a Bride: An Engaging History of Mail-Order Matches. Drawing on a forgotten trove of colorful mail-order marriage court cases, Marcia explores the complex legal issues associated with these arranged marriages and ultimately argues that they do not entirely deserve their unfavorable reputation. Marcia is a professor at the University of South Carolina School of Law, where she teaches family law. She lives in Columbia, South Carolina, with her husband, Geordie, and daughters Willa (8) and Lucy (5).

Steven Fox is the conductor and artistic director of the New York-based Clarion Orchestra, a period instrument performance society. Its Passion Week recording was nominated for a Grammy for Best Choral Performance this year. (For more information on Steven’s work, see his profile in the January/February issue of this magazine).

Anne Mullins was named Teacher of the Year at the University of North Dakota School of Law. She teaches legal research and writing and trial advocacy there. Anne lives in Grand Forks, North Dakota, with her husband, Tim Kelley, and their 1-year-old son, Seamus.

In December Kate (Christiaanse) Fenwick and her husband, John, welcomed their first child, daughter Alice Quinn. They live in San Francisco, where Kate is the vice president of partner strategy at Liftopia, a startup that uses dynamic pricing to optimize lift ticket sales. She is hoping to be back on the slopes in time for spring skiing this year!

Laura (Adams) Young and husband Dave were joined by daughter Caroline at the end of June and made a move to the suburbs shortly thereafter. The trio is loving life in Marin County, California—the redwoods, the views, the air and Perry’s restaurant right down the street (a favorite Dartmouth alum-owned establishment).

—Kate Ryan Stowe, 849 26th Ave., San Francisco, CA 94121; dartmouth2000secretary@gmail.com

It was an enviable summer for many of us in the class of 2000. I heard from Emily (Swistel) Portnoy, who shared, “After 11 years at Grey Worldwide I took advantage of my company’s sabbatical process, packed up my kids, hit up Airbnb and moved to a beach town outside of Tel Aviv for two months this summer. My husband, Ron, was born there, and we spent the summer exploring the ancient ruins, visiting family, learning a new culture and a little conversational Hebrew, eating lots and lots of falafel and learning to surf (yes, I learned too!). Back in N.Y.C., we’re readjusting to work life, the subway and not having four-story palm trees in our backyard.”

Congratulations to Anne Mullins, who recently published her first book, North Dakota Legal Research. She is an assistant professor at the University of North Dakota School of Law in Grand Forks, where she lives with her husband, Tim Kelley, and their 1-year-old son, Seamus. Her love for teaching was recently rewarded with her university’s Webb Faculty Achievement Award for scholarship in legal research, writing pedagogy and persuasion in judicial writing.

Another happy update came from Abby Gaunt, who welcomed daughter Maisie Victoria Feldman on June 22. Abby and her husband, Gabe, live in New Orleans with Maisie and their son, Mack.

Linda (Aucoin) Green let me know that she and her family recently moved to northern Virginia for her husband’s new job in Washington, D.C. She is taking some time off before diving back into the academic world as a biology professor. Linda’s four children span 2 to 9 years old. Cabray Haines, who lives in D.C., is excited to welcome her to town. Also spending time together in the capital region these days are former lacrosse teammates Whitney (Hale) Gardiner, Kate (Graw) Lamond, Melissa Frazier and Jacque (Weitzel) Stahl, who all live in the area.

By the time you read this, Election Day will be almost upon us. Best wishes to Caroline Fayard, who is running as a Democrat for U.S. Senate in Louisiana. Caroline previously ran for lieutenant governor of Louisiana, and most recently she helped launch and serves as counsel to GLO Airlines, a regional airline based in New Orleans.

Please reach out to your new class officers if you would like to get involved with class governance, communications, fundraising or mini-reunion planning. Joe Scott (president), Athena Maikish (vice president), Molly Gregg Otter (treasurer) and I are looking forward to working with lots of our classmates over the next five years of our term. And keep the news and updates coming!

—Kate Ryan Stowe, 849 26th Ave., San Francisco, CA 94121; dartmouth2000secretary@gmail.com

It’s most likely that as you read this, reunion weekend has come and gone. I hope you enjoyed meeting up back at the College on the Hill and reconnecting with fellow classmates. Please send any fun stories my way!

In classmate news, I was thrilled when I heard that Marshall Hyzdu was moving to Cincinnati, as I could use a fellow ’00 friend in the Queen City. Back in January Marshall was named president of Archbishop Moeller High School. After a successful career in brand management, where he most recently served as VP of commercial marketing at Bridgestone, with previous marketing leadership roles at Valvoline and Kraft Foods, Marshall decided to return to his alma mater and give back to the school that gave him so much. As a Catholic school in the Marianist tradition, Archbishop Moeller High School is a Christ-centered community, focusing on faith formation, academic achievement, individual growth and service to others. “Moeller laid the foundation for who I am as a husband, father, son and brother and the opportunity to come back and play even the smallest role in laying a similar foundation is invaluable,” he says. As president Marshall essentially serves as the CEO of the school, developing the short- and long-term vision for building the Moeller brand, and as principal he oversees the operations related to academics, athletics and the arts. “Every day I wake up with the mission of helping young men become their best selves. I love it!” Marshall and his wife, Sara, who started a consulting firm called Exceleration Coaching, are the proud parents of sons James (2) and Teddy (1). Welcome back to Cincy, Hyzdu family!

—Kelly Heaps, 3666 Willowlea Court, Unit B, Cincinnati, OH 45208; heaps.k@pg.com

November 2014 brought the return of one of the Upper Valley’s most anticipated events as Lindsay and Marcus Coe (along with their kids Bowen and Ellie) hosted their 13th annual Meatstorm in Enfield, New Hampshire. The annual event unites friends old and new to take part in Coe-curated wild game and imbibe on a multitude of libations. In addition to the arrival of Das Drinking Horn (with neck straps to enable hands-free beer holding—why didn’t this exist 15 years ago?) this year kids at Meatstorm officially outnumbered adults by a solid margin, which created a whole new type of storm for all in attendance. Fortunately, we all survived and I was able to catch up with a great crew of Dartmouth ’00 alumni from the New England area, including Kristen Scopaz, her husband, Dave, and daughter Aisley, who live in Maine; Lauren Scopaz, her husband, Derek, and kids Brayden and Devon, who live in Connecticut; Emily and Errik Anderson and their children, Catherine, Kastner, Elizabeth and Eve, who are in Hanover; Jonathan “J.T.” Taylor, his wife, Anne, and newborn daughter Willa, who are in South Boston; Sarah and Teddy Rice and their kids, Charlotte, Henry and Finley, who are in the Boston area; Alex Magelby and his wife, Brooke McLaughlin ’01, and their, daughter Piper; Melissa Roth, her husband, Dan, daughter Sam and newborn son Jackson, all of whom call the Upper Valley home. Also representing the Big Green at Meatstorm were Meg and David Lysy (both ’99s) and their twins, Mairaed and Hunter; Jenn Kaye Argenti ’99; Kate and Andy Hilton (both ’99s) and their kids, Hans and Hugo; Drew Lambert ’02 and his wife, Christina; Geoff Colla ’04; “adopted” ’00s Lynn and Mary Coe; and last but certainly not least, Dr. Larry Bowen ’67 and his beautiful bride, Sharleen, whose Plagiarism Punch is always a knockout! Can’t wait for next year’s celebration!

Kristin Veley is currently working in innovation and marketing at Diageo (a beverage alcohol company) in New York City. “I recently moved to Westchester with my husband, Michael, son Gavin (who was born December 2014) and dog Harley. In my spare time I’m working on being an entrepreneur. I recently self-published a children’s book on Amazon.com called The Best Baby in the World: A Love Song to Sing to Your Baby under my pen name Kristin Arden. Check it out! Does anyone work in children’s book publishing? I’d love some tips for future books I’m working on!”

Also, a reminder that our 15th reunion will be celebrated June 17-19 in Hanover. More information will be coming your way shortly!

—Kelly Heaps, 3666 Willowlea Court, Unit B, Cincinnati, OH 45208; heaps.k@pg.com
 

As I started to write this column, I was feeling quite accomplished having gone for a run, gotten dinner on the table and found some time to scroll through Twitter. That was until I dug into the news and press releases that were sent my way during the past few months. Fifteen-plus years post-graduation it’s safe to say that people are rocking it.

Omar Rashid, M.D., J.D., provided the following update: “After medical school, law school, residency, two fellowships and more than 50 peer-reviewed book chapter, abstract, and journal publications, I have finally returned home to south Florida, where I am practicing complex general surgical oncology in the same community where I grew up. Despite a very busy schedule I have had many opportunities to travel and participate in meetings around the world, and it has been great running into Dartmouth alumni across the globe. My brother, Ali Rashid ’01, is also back home practicing cardiac critical care anesthesiology and I am extremely enthusiastic about the challenges and opportunities ahead.”

We have more published writers among us! Michael Cohen is currently an assistant professor of English at UCLA and recently published a book, The Social Lives of Poems in Nineteenth-Century America (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2015). “The book is a study of how people read and used poems in the 19th-century United States and of the ways that poems helped to generate and enable various kinds of social experiences. The book is both a literary history and an account of people’s lived relationships to literary texts.” It’s gotten great reviews, so check it out.

Also, in the “rocking it” category, in August the National Endowment for the Arts announced that Michael Leong won a literature translation fellowship to support the translation into English of Chilean poet Vicente Huidobro. According to the press release, “Leong is collaborating with Ignacio Infante, an assistant professor of comparative literature and Spanish at Washington University in St. Louis, to translate Sky-Quake, a long prose poem by the Chilean avant-gardist Vicente Huidobro. A poet, translator and critic, Leong will begin the fall 2015 semester as a new assistant professor in the English department. His publications include the book-length poem Cutting Time with a Knife (Black Square Editions, 2012), which won a Face Out grant from the Council of Literary Magazines and Presses; I, the Worst of All (BlazeVOX, 2009), a translation of the contemporary Chilean poet Estela Lamat; and peer-review articles on conceptual poetry and ethnic American surrealism in Contemporary Literature, Modern Language Studies and Reconstruction: Studies in Contemporary Culture. He has also written reviews and essays for such venues as the Boston Review, the Brooklyn Rail, Hyperallergic and the Los Angeles Review of Books.”

In the delayed-news, lost-in-my-inbox category, Hollis von Summer and her husband, Mike, welcomed daughter Lexi Louise Kennedy to their family in December 2013. “We have been living in Greenwich, Connecticut, for five years now and have the pleasure of seeing many Dartmouth friends frequently. Our son, Dean, is starting first grade this fall and life is great but flying by too quickly.”

In other baby news, Caroline Hribar and her husband, Mallon FitzPatrick, welcomed daughter Dylan Brodie FitzPatrick into the world on July 2. “She’s got daddy’s hair, mommy’s sleeping gene and a whole lot of opinions that she’s already sharing. Big sister Goose hasn’t made up her mind yet, but we think she’ll come around when Dylan learns to play fetch.”

Congrats all! Now, back to my wine.

—Kelly Heaps, 3666 Willowlea Court, Unit B, Cincinnati, OH 45208; heaps.k@pg.com

Kicking us off, I recently heard from Jonny Waldman: “Hey, zeroes: That litany of post-college adventures and crappy media jobs was worth it, as my first book, Rust (Simon & Schuster), has been widely acclaimed, most recently in The New York Times “Sunday Book Review.” Forgive the horn-tooting, but Booklist called it ‘brilliantly written,’ Henry Petroski in The Wall Street Journal called it ‘masterful,’ The Atlantic called it ‘the opposite of a slog’ and many others have called it lively or fascinating or engrossing. While science-writing-queen Mary Roach compared me to John McPhee and Susan Orlean, The Boston Globe called my prose ‘stylish’ and The Financial Times left it at calling me ‘sassy.’ Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Powell’s all selected the book as a new favorite of some sort—so you should see it all over the place if you haven’t already heard me on a dozen different NPR stations. Just as significantly, while writing the book I logged 150,000 vertical feet on my road bike, and to get ready for publication day I won my age group skiing a Nordic marathon in the highest town in the country. Of course it all began on 40-foot sailboat that Matt Holmes and Jon Haradon and I bought in Mexico. Also, I had octuplets and they’re all adorable and brilliant. Take that, overachievers! More here: www.jonnywaldman.com.


Max Gross and his wife, Jane, welcomed son Harry Leopold Gross into the world on January 3 weighing in at 5 pounds, 10 ounces. “Both mom and baby are doing splendid. And he’s already got a Dartmouth cheering section: Noah Phillips, Alex McCormick and Carissa Alden came to the bris, as did Lili Beneda ’01 with her husband and baby daughter. (Incidentally, Lili met her husband Dan at our wedding). We live on the Upper West Side of Manhattan and I recently left The New York Post to become the editor of the Commercial Observer. (If you know The New York Observer, the Commercial Observer is its sister publication covering commercial real estate.)” Congratulations!


Lastly, if any of you follow March Madness as I do, you couldn’t miss Courtney Banghart making her mark this season as she became the winningest coach in Princeton women’s basketball history! In her eighth season as head coach Courtney led the team to an undefeated 30-0 regular season, won their sixth Ivy League title and advanced to the second round of the NCAA tournament for the first time in school history. Courtney was named the 2015 Naismith National Coach of the Year, chosen from a group of finalists that included Geno Auriemma (University of Connecticut), Sue Semrau (Florida State University) and Dawn Staley (University of South Carolina). Courtney was also named the Ivy League’s inaugural Coach of the Year, the U.S. Basketball Writers Association National Coach of the Year and ECAC Coach of the Year. She was also named one of Fortune magazine’s 50 Greatest Leaders. While I tend to bleed green, Courtney makes it easy to cheer for the Lady Tigers! Congrats, Courtney!


—Kelly Heaps, 3666 Willowlea Court, Unit B, Cincinnati, OH 45208; heaps.k@pg.com


I’m still astounded (although not surprised!) at the amazing things our classmates are doing almost 15 years after graduation! Kelly Miller Cavanaugh is working with her sister, Katie, and her business partner Silvia on their company MySuperFoods as they launch their second line of products in Target and Costco! “The MySuperFoods Co. mission is to create well-balanced food that provides fiber, protein, antioxidants, vitamins, minerals and phytonutrients, but is low in sugar and sodium and contains absolutely nothing artificial. All of our ingredients are recognizable and pronounceable. But we don’t stop there. We are one part super food, one part super hero. Equal parts nutrition and fun. Founded in July 2011, MySuperFoods Co. set out to create a healthy food and lifestyle brand devoted to producing non-genetically modified organism (GMO), nutrient-dense food for kids ages 2 to 12.” In September 2012 they launched their first product—MySuperSnacks Granola Bites—which is now sold in nearly 300 stores across 16 states and online and they have been featured in publications such as Parents Magazine, People.com and New Jersey Magazine. In June 2014 the company introduced its second product offering, MySuperCookies, a 100-percent organic, non-GMO snack for kids ages 2 to 12 sold in more than 60 grocery stores in 12 states in the United States (including EarthFare and Kings), as well as online at Amazon.com, Vine.com, Diapers.com and AbesMarket.com. Check it out at www.mysuperfoodscompany.com. Kelly and her husband, Mark, and daughters Maureen, Audrey and Molly live in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.


In other amazing news, Maj. Joe Scott completed an 11-month tour in Kabul, Afghanistan, with the XVIII Airborne Corps. He worked in one of the headquarters coordinating visits by senior military and political officials from a variety of countries. He, his wife, Emily Copeland ’99, and their two children plan to stay at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, for the next year or so. What many of you may not know is that Joe is our class newsletter editor and has been issuing the quarterly edition from Kabul during the past year. We appreciate his service to the country and to our class! Thanks, Joe!


—Kelly Heaps, 3666 Willowlea Court, Unit B, Cincinnati, OH 45208; heaps.k@pg.com


Hello classmates! Hope this summer is treating you and your families well! One of my favorite parts of being our alumni notes writer is that every time I attend an event with even just one other classmate there is always a conversation about what’s going to show up in the Class Notes. It’s my favorite party trick! But getting on with it, I was honored to attend the Memorial Day Weekend wedding of Janelle Ruley and Elizabeth Vitiello in Los Angeles. It was a beautiful ceremony filled with family and friends who were so excited for the couple, who have been together for seven years. Janelle and Elizabeth live in West Hollywood, where Janelle is an attorney representing California charter schools and Elizabeth is a fashion designer. In addition to myself, other Dartmouth folks there to celebrate the happy couple were Annie Kneedler and husband Sam, Teresa Knoedler (who, out of the goodness of her heart nominated Sarah Blanton to take over the Class Notes once I retire) and husband Keith, Linda (Aucoin) Green (who was accompanied by her adorable daughter Ellie while her husband, Chris, stayed back in Atlanta with their other two children), Scott Jacobs ’99 and fiancée Heather, Matt Blanchard and Chloe Dillon. It was a wonderful long weekend in L.A. and a long time coming for this special couple. Congratulations, Janelle and Elizabeth! 


I was making the wedding rounds in May and while at the wedding of a mutual friend from Cincinnati. Ohio, I was able to spend the weekend with Marshall Hydzu, his beautiful wife, Sara, and their new son, James Marshall Hydzu, who was born in March. I can attest to the fact that he’s quite the cutie and has a great set of lungs, and while he attended his first ever Major League Baseball game, I’m quite certain he’s got Big Green football in his blood! Marshall and his family live in Lexington, Kentucky, where Marshall is in brand management for Valvoline and the new family is doing very well! 


Lastly, and the least favorite part of my job, is to share the sad news that Jeff Zimpleman passed away unexpectedly while traveling in Germany on May 29. Jeff grew up in Iowa before coming to Dartmouth and then went on to receive a master’s of science from the Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, California, and his master’s of business administration from Cornell University. He worked as a financial analyst for Ansell, an Australian manufacturer, and Capital One Financial Corp., where he worked on algorithms to improve security measures for credit card customers. Jeff was also an avid world traveler, who visited six different continents, traveled north of the Arctic Circle and made frequent visits to both Germany and Brazil. We will honor Jeff’s memory by having a book inscribed with his name in the Berry-Baker Library.


—Kelly Heaps, 3666 Willowlea Court, Unit B, Cincinnati, OH 45208; heaps.k@pg.com


It’s always fun when I come across news about classmates as I’m checking in on the day’s news. This was the case back in September when during my daily visit to boston.com (even though I’ve lived in Cincinnati, Ohio, for more than seven years, I still need my Boston fix!), I encountered a news story about Global Rescue, an evacuation and medical assistance company. Having followed Global Rescue for some time now, I clicked on the link and was thrilled to read about the firm’s success. As many of you know, Melissa Roth is vice president and general counsel for Global Rescue, which was founded by her husband, Dan Richards, Tu’03, back in 2004. As stated in the “World’s Perils Give Rise to a Rescue Business” article on boston.com, “At a time when companies are sending employees to every corner of the globe and adventure travelers are seeking thrills in droves, Global Rescue’s evacuation and medical assistance services are in great demand. The prevalence of natural disaster, terrorist attacks and civil uprisings also means travelers are more likely to find themselves in crisis…the outfit conducts more than 1,000 operations a year. It has responded to coup attempts in Mali and Madagascar, terror attacks in India and the 2011 tsunami in Japan. Global Rescue has opened three satellite locations since 2010 (the firm is based on Boston): in Bangkok, Islamabad, and Lebanon, New Hampshire. It has about 3.5 million individual and corporate customers and is seeing a 40-percent increase in clients every year. One of its more notable clients is NASA—but only for earth-bound operations.” But a fast-growing company wasn’t enough and it was time to grow their family! On July 22 Melissa and Dan welcomed Samantha Lulu into their lives and have been enjoying every minute of this new adventure! After having lived in Boston for a few years, Melissa and Dan moved to Etna, New Hampshire, in April and have welcomed the change from city life. Sam did experience her first Dartmouth Homecoming this year, joining family friends including Emily and Errik Anderson, Marcus and Lindsay Coe, Alex Magleby and Brooke McLaughlin ’01 and ’99s Kate and Andy Hilton and was one of many kids sporting Big Green sweaters! Speaking of the Coes, a few weeks after participating in Homecoming events, Marcus and Lindsay welcomed daughter Ellis Marjorie into their family. Ellis joins big brother Bowen as the latest addition to the Coe family, who after a year in Vancouver are back living in Enfield, New Hampshire, and enjoying being back in the Upper Valley. And last, but certainly not least, congratulations to Darlyn Rodriguez Hayes! She and her husband, Mike, had their first son, Orlando Conrad Hayes, on August 24 and are so excited to be new parents! I wish everyone a safe and happy holiday season and joyful new year! All the best to you and your families and I look forward to hearing about all of the awesome things our classmates are doing in 2014!
—Kelly Heaps, 3666 Willowlea Court, Unit B, Cincinnati, OH 45208; heaps.k@pg.com



On September 25, 2009, Stefanie (Tjaden) Lawrence and her husband, Josh Lawrence, welcomed Magnolia Rachel Lawrence into the world. Magnolia was born in London, where her parents have been living and working since 2007. Stefanie is presently the trusts and foundations manager for the Barbican Arts Centre, but is taking advantage of the United Kingdom’s generous maternity leave policy to focus on motherhood for the next several months.


Eli (Burak) Burakian wrote in: “It’s hard to believe it’s already been a year but I’d like to let you know that Julia Martiesian ’01 and I got married on September 6, 2008, at Camp Lenox in Otis, Massachusetts, where we had four days to pretend we were campers with all our friends and family. We combined our names and our new last name is Burakian. A lot of our friends were there from Dartmouth, including classmates of mine, Julia’s and a number of ’99s and other years. Also I just self-published a coffee-table book about Mt. Moosilauke titled Moosilauke: Portrait of a Mountain. It’s a book featuring photographs of the mountain landscape through the seasons and includes short essays by a number of contributors on the Ravine Lodge, the forest, the geology, the Appalachian Trail and the history. For more info and ordering through PayPal, please visit my Web site at www.burakianphotography.com.”


Todd Piro made a huge career change, giving up the practice of law for the bright lights of television. Currently he is an anchor/reporter/sportscaster for KPSP Local 2 News, the CBS affiliate in Palm Springs, California. Todd credits his time at the Dartmouth College Radio Station for helping him develop a love of broadcasting and for helping him begin his career in the medium. If you are ever out in the desert, taking a break from golf or getting a massage tune in to Todd on the weekends at 6 and 11 and Wednesday through Friday at 5, 6 and 11.


Ellie Off, Catherine Ware Kilduff and Megan Slocum Black met up for a girls weekend in Philadelphia in August to visit Katie Uhre, who was interning at Campbell’s before heading back to business school at the University of Chicago. Megan just moved to Princeton, New Jersey, after living in Botswana for nine months, Catherine is living in Davis, California, with her husband, Patrick, and 2-year-old son Lane, and Ellie lives in Cincinnati and works for Procter & Gamble.


Also, Adam Dansiger wrote in with the following update: “I was part of the ’00 class, but I had a car accident early sophomore year, October 17, 1997, and ended up in a coma that would span into January of 1998. In January of that year I was shipped to JFK in Edison, New Jersey, and soon afterward I returned to my Staten Island home. I spent the next few years in and out of the hospital, recovering slowly. My Dartmouth career was over and I began my new life. I started school again at Florida Atlantic University, near my new home in West Palm Beach, Florida. Assimilation was tough. But despite several visits to the dean, probation and eventual suspension I am thrilled to announce that in May 2009 I finally graduated with a B.S. in math. The easy part is over—now I have to find a job. I would love to hear from those of you who knew me. E-mail adamdansiger@gmail.com or Facebook me.”


—Kelly Heaps, 3666 Willowlea Court, Unit B, Cincinnati, OH 45208; kellyheaps@gmail.com


Starting us off, Yevgeny “Eugene” Neginsky and Laurence Menard were married on May 31. “We met in 2005 during my second year at Tuck—Laurence was getting her Ph.D. in immunology at the Dartmouth Medical School. The wedding took place in Darien, Connecticut, and we were delighted that most of Laurence’s family and friends from France were able to make it, as well as many of our Tuck and Dartmouth friends, including Felix Ungar ’02, Rodrigo Vargas, Noah Levy, Marcus Simpson and Scott Bogard ’97. We spent most of June honeymooning in Vietnam and Cambodia and upon our return we officially became residents of Connecticut, leaving behind the great City of New York and many wonderful memories. Our new home is in New Haven, where Laurence is finishing her post-doc at Yale. I decided to open up my own shop (money management firm), and Springdale Capital LLC is officially in business. I will be managing money for high net-worth individuals and families (including some Dartmouth/Tuck alums and parents!). The Web site is www.springdalecap.com. If any ’00s are passing through the area, please look us up.”


This fall I made my annual trip to Enfield, New Hampshire, for Lindsay and Marcus Coe’s eighth annual Meatstorm party and it was great to catch up with a bunch of folks! Lacey and Jake Elberg are expecting their first child in February and got in some practice by keeping an eye on Catherine Anderson, the beautiful daughter of Emily and Errik Anderson. Other ’00s in attendance included Melissa Roth, Allison Taff, J.T. Taylor, Erin Myers Madeira, Drew Pluhar, Alex Magelby and Ryan Jones, who led the group in a champagne toast to Drew Mowery and his fiancée, Lucy Seche (UVA ’02). Lindsay and Marcus cook an unbelievable spread of food (lemon Dijon pheasant, tequila lime ducks or venison stew anyone?) and know how to throw a great party! 


Over the holidays I was able to catch up with Kelly Bodio, who is the chief medical resident at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston and is also in her hematology/oncology fellowship. She’s training for the 2010 Boston Marathon and will run for the Melanoma Foundation of New England. Kelly let me know that congratulations are in order for Pete Burrage and his wife, Joi, who welcomed their daughter Seija into the world on November 1. Pete and Joi met while attending Dartmouth Medical School and, ironically, Seija made an early entrance into the world and was unexpectedly born at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center. All is well with the Burrage family! Also, Emily and Dan Siegal welcomed their first child, Ryan James, into the world on October 11. “He is such a wonderful little guy, and already has a few Dartmouth onesies and outfits!” Emily and Dan are in Boston doing their radiology residencies at the Lahey Clinic and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, respectively. Lastly, in breaking news, Jesse and Melissa (Metzler) Ryan welcomed their second daughter, Jane, on December 21. Jane Marjorie joins sister Camille and her parents in Bethesda, Maryland. Congratulations to all the new babies! Please keep sending your updates!


—Kelly Heaps, 3666 Willowlea Court, Unit B, Cincinnati, OH 45208; kellyheaps@gmail.com


Kicking us off this edition, Kate (Weiss) Rubenstein wrote in: “Our very belated news is that Dustin and I had a baby girl (Renna) last May. We’re having lots of fun watching her grow up but can’t believe we’re the parents of a 1-year-old! We also moved from the Bay Area to N.Y.C. last summer and live up by Columbia University, where Dustin just finished his first year as a biology professor. I am still working in sales for GE Capital and have enjoyed running into several Dartmouth folks near my office in midtown.”


Mike Lewis moved from L.A. to Denver this past winter. “It’s quite a change but luckily there are quite a few classmates here to keep me company. Over the past few months here in Denver I’ve been fortunate to hang out with Jules Kesner, Will Coyne, Ben Rifkin and Jacob Litch. Good times out here in Colorado!”


Omar Rashid has been a busy guy! “Since graduating from Duke Med and Law in 2006 I have been in my general surgery training in Richmond, Virginia, where I have also been active in cancer research and health policy in the state capital. I have also been fortunate to meet many interesting people in Richmond (including many Dartmouth alumni) and I have taken the opportunity to travel extensively for both business and vacation (including frequent trips to Hanover). My brother (Ali Rashid ’01) is moving to Richmond for his graduate medical training as well, and we both look forward to the exciting years ahead (including the 10-year reunion).” 


Heather Huffman-Dracht is “practicing emergency medicine in an amazing chalet/gourmet restaurant/hospital in skiers’ paradise—aka Park City, Utah. My husband, Phil (Calvin College ’97), and I have a beautiful home in Salt Lake City that we now share with two dogs, two cats and a beautiful baby boy, Elijah Daniel, whom we adopted at birth on June 17, 2009. Life is hectic (especially now that Eli is crawling) but good!”


Kate (Winter) Shamberger sent in her first ever update after she and her husband, Jason ’99, welcomed Madeline Clara (Maddie) Shamberger into their family on March 1. “We’d been expecting a little boy, so she was quite the surprise! I have a feeling this will be the first of many tricks she’ll play on her parents over the years. She’s a great little kid and is being kind to us first-timers! She also visited Dartmouth for the first time last week and took in a Dartmouth softball doubleheader at Sachem!” In other baby news, Bill and Ashley (Wendus) Cook welcomed a baby girl, Phoebe Arden, on January 13.


Congratulations are in order for Annie Kneedler, who was engaged in May to Sam Bryson (Harvard ’04). Annie and Sam met while attending the Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan and currently live in Chicago, where Annie works for Cargill and Sam works for Accenture. They will be relocating to Minneapolis in the fall.


Finally, mark your calendars now for June 17-19, 2011, for our 10th year (aka 10+1) class reunion in Hanover! Our co-chairs Jeff Eldridge and Susi Kandel are still looking for folks to get involved in the planning, so shoot them an e-mail if you’re interested or have any ideas. Also, you can stay up to date on reunion details in the following ways: join the “Dartmouth Class of 2000 Reunion” group on Facebook, follow on twitter@dartmouth2000 or visit the class of 2000 website at www.dartmouth2000.org. 


—Kelly Heaps, 3666 Willowlea Court, Unit B, Cincinnati, OH 45208; kellyheaps@gmail.com


Hello everyone! Hope your new year is off to a great start! At the end of 2013 I heard from Jacquie (Johnson) Arana, who sent in “a (very) belated update that my husband, Andres, and I welcomed our second and third children back in June 2012! Twins Anabel and Gabriela join their older sister Eva, who is 3 1/2, and our dog Leo (the oldest at 5 years old!). Our three lovely little ladies are keeping us quite busy (and Leo is being very tolerant), but we’re loving every second of it. Before the twins were born I left the N.Y.C. law firm life and took a job as in-house counsel at Bed Bath & Beyond’s corporate headquarters in Union, New Jersey. It has been a great switch for me, both from a work standpoint and a lifestyle standpoint, and I’m still (now almost two years later) enjoying the work immensely.”


It’s always great to hear from classmates near and far, and such was the case when I heard from my former roommate from post-college time in Boston, Ainsley (Ryan) Showalter. She and her husband, Chris ’99, live in Zimbabwe. “Would you believe that the only mail we receive in Zimbabwe is the alumni magazine? I have no idea how it ends up under our gate in Harare, as there is no mail service to speak of. I just attribute its delivery to the mystical power of Dartmouth! Chris and I have Tatum (7), Perkin (5) and Henry (1) and our two basset hounds, Tigerlilly and Tyrannosaurus Rex. The older children attend the Harare International School and Henry spends his day exploring the garden and hunting for zongororos (giant millipedes). Chris is now a managing partner at Hannam & Partners, a London-based emerging markets advisory firm where he is responsible for all of southern Africa; not a job for the faint of heart. Meanwhile, he is still knee-deep in trying to save the black rhino! I am busy with the children, constant power and water shortages, endless ‘developing world’ problems, dodging roadblocks, adjudicating national music festivals and doing what I can to make a tiny difference here on a local level, mostly in music and education. We cherish our intrepid visitors, friends and family alike.”


As many of you know, Nick Russell serves as our class representative to the Alumni Council and attends the annual meeting of the Alumni Council. In case you did not see his summary email from December, I’ve included a very small excerpt below. “I recently had the pleasure of attending the 207th meeting of the Alumni Council, which also celebrated the 100th anniversary of the council. The meeting was the first opportunity for President Phil Hanlon ’77, and I wanted to highlight a response to a question forwarded from one of our classmates prior to the meeting. Her question was: ‘Setting aside financial donations, what is the best way I can get involved with and give back to the Dartmouth community?’ President Hanlon is focusing on answering this question as he visits with alumni around the world this year for a series of presidential Dartmouth club events. The theme of the presidential club events is ‘Are You All in for Dartmouth?’ The College has developed a new webpage (http://allinfordartmouth.com/allin), which provides the online links to a wide variety of opportunities for alumni to engage with the College (for example, interviewing, career mentoring, club and class volunteers, etc.). The locations and dates of the remaining presidential club visits are
Washington, D.C., on February 19; Philadelphia on March 19; Chicago on April 29; Seattle on May 6; and Denver on May 20.”


Also, just a reminder that the voting for the 2014 Association of Alumni Committee will take place from February 12 to March 11. You should have received an email with the slate of candidates back in December. I encourage you to participate in this important effort.


—Kelly Heaps, 3666 Willowlea Court, Unit B, Cincinnati, OH 45208; heaps.k@pg.com


In my plea for class notes, Kate Ryan Stowe came to my rescue to share great news both about herself and a fellow classmate (thank you, Kate!). “Cabray Haines married David Kiley on May 25 on Martha’s Vineyard. They live in D.C. and are both investment bankers in the public finance sector. There were many Dartmouth guests at their wedding, including Meaghan Fanning Karczewski, Kate Christiaanse, Whitney Hale Gardiner, Caroline Hribar, Debbie Godsoe Rand, Anne Mullins, Jessica Margolin Fenton and husband Doug Fenton ’02, Brook Cosby, Charlotte Zukowski Sullivan and Gerry Cadava. I wasn’t able to attend because my husband, Derick, and I welcomed our daughter Annabel on May 20 in San Francisco.”


Additional news coming in from the West Coast is that Elizabeth Lucchesi returned to Los Angeles at the beginning of the year and was recently hired back into the Fox family. She’s working as an assistant at Fox Sports Originals and couldn’t be happier to be back on the West Coast. “I joined both the Dartmouth Club of L.A. and Dartmouth Alumni in Entertainment & Media—it’s been great reconnecting with Dartmouth folks in the City of Angels!”


Meg Donohue is continuing to enjoy success with her writing. “I live in San Francisco with my husband and our two daughters. My first novel, How to Eat a Cupcake, was published by HarperCollins last year, and my second novel, All the Summer Girls, was published in May. I’m working on my third novel now and split my days between the quiet of writing and the mayhem of toddler-wrangling!” Check out more at www.megdonohue.com and you’ll see the great reviews for both books and that All the Summer Girls was chosen as a Boston Globe bestseller and a Target “Emerging Author” pick! Congrats, Meg!


—Kelly Heaps, 3666 Willowlea Court, Unit B, Cincinnati, OH 45208; heaps.k@pg.com


I hope everyone has recovered from reunion weekend in Hanover! What a great weekend to catch up with friends and their ever-growing families! A huge thank-you goes out to the reunion committee for their endless hard work, especially our fearless leaders Susi Kandel and Jeff Eldridge, and their dream team of Jennifer (Viele) Mahon, Hoi Ning Ngai, Kate (Weiss) Rubenstein (whose daughter was a dancing machine!), Shannon Marimon, Hollis von Summer, Monique Roy and Kristen (Leadbeater) Ashford. Thanks for all your hard work! Also, during reunion, we elected a new slate of class officers and our new officers are Susi Kandel (president), Adam Siegel (vice president), Jennifer (Viele) Mahon (treasurer) and I’ll be staying on as secretary. I’d like to thank Jay and Elizabeth (Pollina) Cormier, our outgoing president and treasurer, respectively, for their service during the past five years and congratulate them on the arrival of their second son, James, on May 31, which kept them away from Hanover for reunion weekend. Also, thank you to outgoing VP Kristen Veley. 


While the stories from reunion are great, there is one in particular that is quite special, as Douglas Fenton ’02 kicked off the weekend right, proposing to Jessica Margolin on a moonlit night on the Green a day before the reunion festivities began. They enjoyed celebrating with old friends over the reunion weekend and then hung around New Hampshire to do some hiking in the White Mountains. Congratulations!


Emily and Ben Berk win the award for bringing the youngest child to reunion! “Oliver Hoffman Berk was born April 26, and joins Simon (3) and Annabel (6) in our home in Chicago. I’m a principal now at BCG—focused primarily in value-based healthcare and informatics.” I’m thrilled that Oliver now has a name because his reunion nametag said “Bumble Berk,” since he was registered before he was actually born!


Now on to our non-reunion news: I heard from Todd Piro that he’s the anchor for the morning news at KPSP Local 2 in Palm Springs, California, his show was just nominated for an Emmy! As some will remember, Todd was very active with WDCR/WFRD radio while in Hanover and had multiple internships in N.Y.C., but moved into the legal industry after he got his J.D. from UCLA School of Law and practiced in a Wall Street law firm. But Todd made his way back to TV and now has a very early daily wake-up call!


Julia and Eli Burakian are working on a new project that has them hiking, mapping, photographing and filming their journey along the Janapar trail, which is a newly created trail in Nagorno-Karabakh, a self-proclaimed autonomous region between Armenia and Azerbaijan. “We will be creating a guidebook and map set to this trail and exhibiting large photographic prints at a number of shows around the Northeast starting this fall. We will also be creating a 20-minute slideshow-documentary exploring the trail and the region as a whole, which has undergone a turbulent recent history. We would love your support and if you want to learn more, please send us an e-mail!”


Lastly, congratulations are in order for Laura Mills, who will marry Jared Moore (Duke ’03) in September. We look forward to hearing all about the Dartmouth folks who make the trip to Columbus, Ohio, for the wedding.


—Kelly Heaps, 3666 Willowlea Court, Unit B, Cincinnati, OH 45208; kellyheaps@gmail.com


We’re a little light on the news this edition, and I’m guessing it’s because we all got caught up at reunion—but keep those updates coming! First off, congratulations are in order for Teddy Rice and his wife, Sarah, who welcomed a son into the world in August! Henry Taggart Rice made a speedy entry into the world with Sarah only in labor for 45 minutes! Henry weighed in at 7 pounds, 3 ounces and joins big sister Charlotte at the Rices’ home in Boston.


Congratulations are also in order for Meg Donohue Preuss, whose debut novel How to Eat a Cupcake is being published by HarperCollins in March of 2012 under her maiden name. Meg received a M.F.A. in writing from Columbia University after Dartmouth and currently lives in San Francisco.


Lastly, major kudos and thank-yous go out to Caroline Hribar, Adam Demark and Ned Dybvig, who led our class in raising more than $350,000 for the Dartmouth College Fund this reunion year. We broke all the records for young alumni classes and contributed to the most successful year ever for the fund! With 33.6-percent participation, our class raised a total of $352,175! The size of our gift set a new Dartmouth College Fund record for 10th-reunion fundraising, beating the record of the class of 1988 by more than $60,000 and totaled more than the ’01s, ’02s and ’06s combined. We were also awarded the Roger C. Wilde 1921 Reunion Award, given to a class for extraordinary achievement in setting a new reunion dollar record. “We could not have done this without the generosity of all of you, our classmates. Thank you for your help in continuing one of the most important Dartmouth traditions—giving back to our College on the Hill. By doing so we have helped current students enjoy the same Dartmouth experience that has opened so many doors for us since graduation. We would also like to give a special thanks to the dedicated, energetic volunteers who donated their time to make this year’s Dartmouth College Fund campaign truly great!” This dedicated group is always looking for volunteers, so e-mail me or Caroline Hribar if you’re interested in helping out.


—Kelly Heaps, 3666 Willowlea Court, Unit B, Cincinnati, OH 45208; kellyheaps@gmail.com


Starting us off, Stephanie Lee was married in May 2011 to Peter McKay and a number of Dartmouth alums came to the wedding in Brooklyn, including Dan Scholnick, David Kover, Dagny Dingman ’02, Kate (Winter) Shamberger, Jason Shamberger ’99 and Andrew Perlstein. “Later in the year my husband and I moved to San Francisco for new jobs. He now works in development at the Asian Art Museum and I started my own quantitative graphic consulting company, Levinson Lee Consulting. I work with litigators, economic expert witnesses and businesses to present information in a clear way and persuade with data. Dartmouth Lawyers Association, I’m looking at you!”


As many of you know, our class was awarded the Roger C. Wilde 1921 Reunion Award for setting a new Dartmouth fundraising record at our reunion last year. We need to find a new trophy case, as our class president, Susi Kandel, was awarded the Dartmouth Young Alumni Distinguished Service Award! This award is given annually three alumni who have demonstrated extraordinary service to Dartmouth. The first Young Alumni Award was presented in 1990, and since then 47 alumni have been honored.


Susi was presented with the award during Class Officers Weekend in September. Here’s an excerpt from her award: “You have kept Dartmouth at the forefront of your volunteerism, continuously striving to make it a better place for both fellow alumni and current students. It all started with your involvement with the organization nearest and dearest to you, the Dartmouth Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Alumni/ae Association (DGALA). You served as president for five years, during which time DGALA successfully celebrated its 25th anniversary reunion, and currently you serve as vice president for the organization. Volunteering for the College broadened your exposure to other alumni you otherwise would not have met, and you enjoyed meeting fellow volunteers who are all motivated by the betterment of this institution. You then became a member of the Alumni Council, serving as chair of the Young Alumni Committee. For the class of 2000, you took on the enormous task of co-chairing your 10-year reunion and were recently elected class president…for all the contributions you have made to your alma mater, it is our great honor to present you with the Dartmouth Young Alumni Distinguished Service Award.”


Congratulations, Susi, and thanks for all that you do for our class! Please keep the updates coming!


—Kelly Heaps, 3666 Willowlea Court, Unit B, Cincinnati, OH 45208; heaps.k@pg.com


Congratulations to Tim Naples and his wife, Pam: “Sandwiched between Hurricane Sandy and a blizzard-like Nor’easter, my wife Pam gave birth to twins! Tyler Jameson and Emma Marie were born November 3. Everyone is doing well and we got power and heat back a week after Sandy.” That’s all for this issue folks. Please send me any notes you’d like to share with the class! As you can tell, it’s getting harder to get any information! 


—Kelly Heaps, 3666 Willowlea Court, Unit B, Cincinnati, OH 45208; heaps.k@pg.com


Hi all! I hope the new year is off to a great start and treating everyone well! Starting off, I have some wedding news to report. Aviva Moss wrote in: “I’m writing to announce my wedding to Jeff Lewis (Washington University ’03, University of Chicago ’07) on August 22, 2010. Specifically, I wanted to share how honored I am that Lea Goryn and her family came from Peru to celebrate with me. Lea’s son Jorgito was my ringbearer! Jeff and I were introduced by our friends Melanie Ellis Starks ’01 and Christopher Starks ’02, my friends from college and his friends from medical school. Dartmouth was represented in multiple generations as my dad is a ’70 and my sister Tovah, who was my maid of honor, is an ’07. InSung Cho ’01, Andrew Park, Rebecca Udler Feingold, Melanie Ellis and Christopher Starks were all there to for the happy day! Many thanks to them. Also I just started a Ph.D. at NYU studying speech motor control. It’s been a busy and rewarding year!” Congrats! Congratulations are also in order for Lisa Parrington and her husband, Arun Khosla, who were married on October 2, 2010, at the Church of the Holy Name on the Upper West Side in Manhattan. “My grandmother and great-grandmother were married in the same church so the ceremony was really meaningful to us. After the ceremony we had a fantastic evening filled with dinner and dancing at the Four Seasons Hotel New York! It was a wonderful day and now we’re enjoying relaxing and settling into married life together. Arun is a television producer with Fox News and I am a senior associate in the securities department at WilmerHale. I’m looking forward to seeing everyone at the reunion!”


Speaking of which, planning for the big event is well under way. Just in case you haven’t already, mark your calendars for the big event in Hanover, June 17-19. “The Zeroes: Noughty by Nature” will be a celebration of our class and all of the things we’ve accomplished in the past 11 years. I hope those of you in some of the bigger cities were able to attend the mini-reunions held in November. If you weren’t able to make it, more will be held in the spring. I hope you’ve seen the update e-mails, but if you haven’t there are a number of ways you can stay informed about the reunion: visit dartmouth2000.wordpress.com, join the Dartmouth class of 2000 reunion Facebook group or follow us on Twitter @dartmouth2000. It’s also never too late to get involved with planning—just e-mail dartmouth2000reunion@gmail.com. We are so excited to reconnect in June and hope you are too! Until then please keep the news coming! 


—Kelly Heaps, 3666 Willowlea Court, Unit B, Cincinnati, OH 45208; kellyheaps@gmail.com


Baby news in abundance! Congrats to all our classmates who have growing families! Among this group are Eric Almon and his wife, Caroline (Stanford ’02), who welcomed their daughter Hadley Jewell into the world on January 16. “We also moved from San Francisco to Tampa, Florida, Caroline’s hometown, this past September. I’m practicing securities law at Holland & Knight and enjoying the warm Florida ‘winter.’ ” Also, Carmen Flores wrote in from London: “My husband, Dan Bassford, and I welcomed our daughter Clara Christine into the world on April 2, 2011. We’ve been in London for the last five years. I’ve been enjoying my time as a musician, most recently joining the Villiers Quartet as their violist. For those of you who can’t attend our concerts in London, our N.Y.C. debut is in March 2013, so we look forward to seeing you there! We are enjoying the Dartmouth club and happenings United Kingdom-side!” That’s it for this time around. Please send me your news! 


—Kelly Heaps, 3666 Willowlea Court, Unit B, Cincinnati, OH 45208; kellyheaps@gmail.com


I heard from Max Gross that he got married this past Labor Day. “My beloved bride is named Jane Wexler (she is a Penn alum!) and the wedding took place at Blue Hill at Stone Barns in Pocantico Hills, New York. The best man at the wedding was Noah Phillips, and Alex McCormick and David Levi served as groomsmen. The only other 2000 in attendance was Caitlin Bronner, but we had a lot of other Dartmouthites at the ceremony, including Sarah Charles Phillips ’02 (wife of Noah), Lili Beneda ’01, Angharad Wilson ’01 and Daniel, Th’03, and Elisabeth ’97 (Barbiero) Bilar. And speaking of Caitlin, I owe this match to Caitlin’s brother Greg and sister-in-law Nellie. Greg and Nellie were out at dinner one night and began eavesdropping on the table next to theirs, where they heard a beautiful young woman unloading on her best friend all about the travails of dating, law school and life in New York City. Greg and Nellie struck up a conversation and after a few minutes Greg said, ‘I think I have a guy for you.’ ‘Max Gross?’ asked Nellie, unprompted. E-mail addresses were exchanged and the rest is history. Of course, my nuptials have been the big news in my life of late, but the update from me is simply that I’m living in Manhattan, writing about food and real estate for the New York Post, and working on my second book. My wife is a third-year student at Columbia Law School who will start as an associate in the intellectual property department at Kramer Levin Naftalis & Frankel next fall.”


In August Kamie (Twomey) Kennedy, Anne (Murray) Emert, Liz Martin, Ainsley (Ryan) Showalter and Paige (Perry) Pennock rented a lake house in Ashburnham, Massachusetts, with their husbands and families and spent a few days catching up. “Ainsley and her three kids came from Zimbabwe—yes! Zimbabwe! (And actually not only to see us. Ainsley did return to America to give birth to her son Henry a few months ago and stayed on for our little trip.) The Showalters have been in Africa for the last two years for Showy’s work. Ainsley also managed to do pretty much all the meal planning and cooking for the whole household during our trip. Liz and her husband, Dan, and their two little girls came from Seattle, where Dan is an ER doc and Liz is doing pediatric anesthesia. Anne came from Lawrence, Kansas, where she is an attorney at a Kansas City law firm and has 18-month-old little boy Sam, who hung out in Boston with her husband, Mark, while we drank wine by the lake. Kamie brought her two little boys—13 months apart!—and her husband, John, from Boulder, Colorado, where they have been since Kamie finished business school at Stanford. (Check out Kamie’s latest side business, nogginbethere.com!) Andy and I came from San Diego without our three children—ahhh—and spent every morning sleeping in. Our trip included kayaking, waterskiing, hiking, making s’mores, sitting around on the dock and a visit from Courtney Banghart (who is, incidentally, crushing it as head women’s basketball coach at Princeton).” Sounds like a great weekend ladies!


Also crushing it is Melissa Doft, who is a plastic surgeon in N.Y.C. “Two years ago I introduced a novel device to the pediatric community at New York Hospital for children born with ear deformities: the Earwell by Becon Medical. Approximately 15 percent of newborns are born with some type of ear deformity. The Earwell infant corrective system is a new FDA-approved adhesive appliance that attaches to the child’s skin to mold the ear into a more anatomical shape. Studies have shown that the device corrects 90 to 95 percent of all infant deformities.” This work was been presented at both national and international meetings, including the Academy of Pediatrics.


—Kelly Heaps, 3666 Willowlea Court, Unit B, Cincinnati, OH 45208; heaps.k@pg.com