Class Note 1984
The class of 1984 continues to be amazing. It’s very easy to brag this month. Our own Susie Huang has just been promoted to co-head of investment banking at Morgan Stanley. This makes Susie the first woman ever to run investment banking at a top U.S. firm. Susie joined Morgan Stanley in 1984 and worked her way up through its merger-advisory business, which is ranked second this year by deal volume. She has worked mostly on healthcare and consumer transaction, including the 2009 combination of Wyeth and Pfizer and a string of deals for Procter & Gamble. Before her promotion Susie ran the Americas mergers and acquisitions business. Congrats to Susie!
By the time you read these notes, Eric Dezenhall’s new book, Best of Enemies, will be in bookstores. It’s the true story about CIA officer Jack Platt and KGB agent Gennady Vasilenko, who were assigned with “turning” each other into spies for the other side at the height of the Cold War (during our college years). While they never became traitors to their countries, they did become best friends, saved each other’s lives (Gennady was imprisoned and tortured by Putin’s thugs in Russian prisons during a period of years and saved thanks to the influence of Robert De Niro) and took down the most lethal spy in U.S. history, a story the book will tell for the first time. Sounds like a great read!
The husband-wife team of Amy Iorio and Ralph Barton have put their high-tech days of working at Microsoft and consulting at Yahoo! behind them in exchange for owning and operating bakeries. The dynamic duo is a franchisee of a company called Nothing Bundt Cakes, which has been super successful and in the Top 15 franchises for the past four years. And, yes, they make only Bundt cakes, in four sizes and 10 flavors. Nine years ago they opened two bakeries in the Westside of L.A., and they will be opening the first bakery in New England for this concept in Newton, Massachusetts. Ralph reports that he “loves going ‘low tech.’ You can’t outsource cakes from India and China, and the best part is that people are ‘raving fans’ of our cakes, beyond what I could ever imagine. It’s nice to run a business where everyone who walks in the door is looking forward to getting a cake for themselves or for a daughter’s birthday, etc. They’re almost always in a great mood, which in the hustle and bustle of L.A. is rare.” Compliments to the bakers Amy and Ralph!
And kudos to Roseanne McSween for receiving her doctorate in educational administration and leadership in May from Fordham University. Her dissertation focused on two case studies in the nonprofit sector using stakeholder engagement as her theoretical lens. With her new credential in hand, Rose is serving as a professor of finance and fiscal management at Fordham’s Gabelli School of Business and graduate school of social service, in addition to leading the business school’s fundraising team. Go, Roseanne!
—Juliet Aires Giglio,4915 Bentbrook Drive, Manlius, NY 13104; julietgiglio@gmail.com; Eric Grubman, 2 Fox Den Way, Woodbridge, CT 06525; (203) 710-7933; grubman@sbcglobal.net
