Notes from the Cornell Class of 1991 - 2010 January/February

Class Notes, 2010 January/February

January/February 2010

Happy New Year (and New Decade), Class of 1991! Here's to new beginnings. News from classmates was not plentiful in the latter half of last year. Fortunately, Facebook is a great tool to extract news. I heard from Mark Adams, JD '95, who lives in Paris with wife Melissa (Arnold) and their children Zachary, 6, and Kate, 3. Mark is a lawyer in the Paris office of Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton, focusing on cross-border corporate and capital markets transactions involving companies in France and Russia. Roughly 14 years after graduating from Cornell Law, Mark subjected himself to (and passed) the French Bar exam last spring. Mark loves living in Paris, noting several key differences from life in the NYC area, including: 1) bike riding with the kids in the gardens of an old chateau rather than in a suburban New Jersey park; 2) a café on every corner; 3) buying veggies, wine, and cheese at an open-air market instead of Whole Foods; and 4) a five-minute walk to work rather than a one-hour train ride. Mark and Melissa caught up with Ian Kline '90, BA '92, when he and his wife were in Paris for their honeymoon.

My sorority sister Carrie Duff '92 reports that 2009 was a great year for getting back in touch with Cornell classmates. In May, Carrie attended a 40th birthday party weekend getaway with her fellow Tri Delta sisters (described in a prior column). More recently, Carrie had dinner with Corinne McKamey '92, Max Chang '92, and Doug Hurley '92, at which Doug explained how he gets virtually all of his food from within 15 miles of his house in north central Massachusetts. Over dinner, the group shared thoughts about starting a charter school in Massachusetts; they would love to hear from anyone with experience in that Herculean task. Betsy Ochester shared news via Facebook that she works for Highlights for Children as editor and writer of their two puzzle book series, Puzzle Buzz and the brand new Puzzlemania. Betsy lives in Pittsburgh, PA, with her husband and their daughter, Quincy, 2. One of my co-correspondents spotted Jennifer Berger Schatz's announcement that daughter Maeryn Grace made her debut on Sept. 1, '09. Jennifer posted that she and husband Brad "couldn't be happier."

Two classmates made the mainstream news for receiving awards in 2009. George Yin, an attorney at Garcia Calderon Ruiz LLP (GCR) in Los Angeles, CA, was named by the Organization for Chinese Americans (OCA) and General Motors as one of the 2008-09 Unsung Heroes for his time and dedication to the OCA-Greater Los Angeles chapter. George has been an active member of OCA-Greater Los Angeles for over a decade. He was the driving force behind organizing an artist's reception with a renowned painter from China, and he organized a "Summer Relief" event to raise money for relief efforts in Myanmar and China. "Giving back to the community is an area in which George has always been active, including volunteering with the OCA and serving on the boards of numerous other nonprofit, civic, and community organizations," reports the founding and managing partner of GCR. The New Jersey Dept. of Education recognized Chiara Shah, awarding her a 2009 Distinguished Student Teacher Award. Chiara is one of the year's 15 top graduates of the teacher preparation programs administered by New Jersey colleges and universities. She earned her master's in teaching from Monmouth U. in January 2009. She now teaches pre-calculus honors and algebra II at a high school in Lawrenceville, NJ. Prior to teaching, Chiara pursued various professions, including publishing and computer database design. Chiara and husband Sunish have a son, Kiran, and a daughter, Kayla.

Some classmates shared news in traditional ways. Chuck Taylor, ME '92 (Palo Alto, CA) is CEO of Doostang.com, an exclusive career network of elite graduates. When not working, Chuck competes in triathlons, including the Silicon Valley Olympic triathlon in June 2009. Barbara Burke Powers and husband Joe welcomed their fourth child in January 2009. Baby Grace joined Jack, 6, Tess, 5, and Chip, 3. Before becoming a stay-at-home mom about three years ago, Barbara worked for ten years in the pharmaceutical industry in the areas of clinical research and regulatory affairs. She laments that laundry is her present "after-hours" extracurricular activity, explaining that "the biggest surprise of having children has been all the laundry!" Barbara would love to hear from Noel Alden. Laura Hubbert DiCarlo (Austin, TX) keeps busy volunteering in her children's schools and in the community. Most recently, she has been training block captains for the Neighborhood Watch program in Austin's Allendale neighborhood. Laura notes that she is not currently paid for all the work she does, and she has been thinking of getting back into the professional world. She would love to hear from Deanna Smith '93 and Ana Quinonez, ME '93.

Thank you to those who wrote to us with news in 2009. We want to hear from more of you! Until then: Ariane Schreiber Horn, ams14@cornell.edu; Sharlyn Carter Heslam, sheslam@berkshirepartners.com; Kathryn Kraus Bolks, klk22@cornell.edu.