Class Note 1989
It’s May when you’re reading this, but I just celebrated my 49th birthday in late February and have already had trade shows this year in Vegas, London and New York—far less glamorous at a startup. However, while in London I did get to have a few beers with Michael Hafner and catch up with him. Michael has been in London now for a while with UBS and I hope to see him again next time I’m over there.
Susan Allen Cera emailed me on LinkedIn. She’s worked for the past 10 years in admissions at Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business, living in the Raleigh-Durham area of North Carolina. Susan wrote: “Loved your write-up in the alumni mag. I thought I was the only one who had new roommates all of the time! I’m now working with classmate Jeff Thomas at Stratus Prep, leading up the M.B.A. admissions counseling business.”
I had gotten in touch with Lenora Brown several years ago when my band was playing in the finals of the Fortune magazine’s Battle of the Corporate Bands, which takes place at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and Museum in Cleveland, Ohio; I wanted to not only invite her to the show, but also find out where the good eats were in Cleveland, and we’ve been in touch ever since. Lenora has already been published, but she has a new book out, New Play Development: Facilitating Creativity for Dramaturgs, Playwrights, and Everyone Else. It’s available on Amazon, of course. She has been working closely with the Cleveland branch of the Center for Arts Inspired Learning. Lenora says, “The Cleveland branch has truly set itself apart and is a national leader in diversity of programming (we cosponsored a public school dedicated to digital arts!) and has begun to introduce a system that ensures that our teaching artists are well trained.”
I travel a lot with my job, so if any other ’89s have a local eats they don’t mind sharing with me (or the whole class), let me know! Plus if I’m in your town, I’ll reach out to try to meet.
And here’s a tale of two ’89s, both of whom are biology professors and in New Mexico: Tim Wright and Ken Whitney! Ken is an associate professor at University of New Mexico and Tim is an associate professor at New Mexico State University! More info coming from them in the next issue, but Tim works with Brook Milligan ’78 and Ken works with Seth Newsome ’99. As Ken said, “We are trying to get a lock on the whole state. Just a few more retirements.”
I would love to hear about ’89s who are in the same industry, even the same company, living close to one another—or if you work for the same company in different areas—let me know! And please send me your updates and news, no matter how small.
—Ned Ward, 2104 Graham Ave., #B, Redondo Beach, CA 90278; ned@nedorama.com
