Class Note 1984

It’s been a good year. Not only do most of us turn or have turned 50 and enjoyed great celebrations, but the class of 1984 rallied to an impressive 47.2-percent participation to give the College $628,385, exceeding the goal by almost 10 percent (I have a calculator.) All of this would not be possible without the class agents who have the unenviable task of bugging you for money. So it seemed appropriate to bring you up to date on some of their whereabouts because, after all, they are people too.


Mike Sill writes from his cabin on Lake Vermillion in northern Minnesota, “It’s almost noon and my son and his buddies are still racked in the bunkhouse after a late night. We’ll water ski and tube this afternoon. I live in the Minneapolis area with my wife of 20 years and my three kids. I like to hunt in the fall and snowmobile in the winter, often with Warner Ide. Last winter we enjoyed a couple of 150-mile snowmobile routes along lakes adjacent to the Boundary Water Canoe Area Wilderness and along the Canadian border. From a work standpoint, I am a distributor of heavy construction equipment, primarily in Minnesota, Iowa and the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. I like what I do and the nature of our products keeps me active in a number of industry groups that advocate for economic growth. Recently a group of Phi Delts took their families to the country of Jordan. Included in the trip were Ed Tolley, Steve Rowland, Gordie Saul, Paul Bonucci, Gig Faux, Ricky Bayless, Andy Pierce and, of course, the Sills. Highlights included Petra, camping in Wadi Rum desert, Aqaba and Dead Sea. It was truly a spectacular trip.”


David Chao (not to be confused with Derek Chow, my husband…I always wish it was actually spelled Ciao) writes, “I worked on trading desks on Wall Street from graduation through 1992 when I segued to the hedge fund world, starting my own in 1996. I closed the fund in 2002 and took a break to raise my kids and do volunteer work for Phipps Houses and other worthy causes. I then went back into the financial world to help a friend with his business.” David lives in Scarsdale, New York, with his wife and three kids. He recently attended Bob Hughes’ wedding where he saw fellow classmates Mara Rudman, Viva Hardigg, Cola Parker and Jim Moulton, in addition to numerous other Dartmouth alums. “I also had Tim and Carole Geithner ’83 over for dinner earlier in the year.”


From the Boston area Doug Kingsley writes, “I married my hometown honey and we just celebrated our 25th wedding anniversary! We have four sons, two of whom are at Dartmouth playing football and rugby. For work I’ve spent 22 years in the private equity industry. In 2007 I co-founded North Bridge Growth Equity and I invest in technology companies. It’s a blast because my team and I get to meet some of the smartest and coolest entrepreneurs in the country—people like our classmate Karen Francis, who is CEO of AcademixDirect. I have hired Dartmouth rising seniors to intern for me for each of the last three summers and they have been awesome.” Doug says he sees a lot of fellow ’84s in his work and family circles, including Bill Connolly, Scott Sipple, J.B. Daukas and Jim Wooster.


—Jan Gordon and Derek Chow, 770 Union Ave., Boulder, CO 80304; (303) 448-1580; janandderek @comcast.net