Class Notes - 2017 September/October, Cornell University Class of 1991

Class Notes, 2017 September/October

September/October 2017

It’s that time of year again when enthusiastic freshmen are about to embark on their wonderful journey through Cornell, an experience that will for- ever change their lives. It dawned on me that exactly 30 years ago, at this time, we were those freshmen! It’s incredible to think that so many of my lifelong friendships were developed in that very first year.

Just this past March, I met up with 11 of my Big Red buddies for a girls’ getaway in Napa Valley. Anna Doyno Tague (Orinda, CA) and Katherine Miller Eskovitz (Santa Monica, LA) were already on the West Coast. Jana Pompadur Kierstead and Kerry Nelson came from the Boston area. Alexandra Floyd Bray joined us from Baltimore. And from the tri-state area were Lauren Gallagher Heil (Centerport, NY), Kimberly Seibert Sleeman (Short Hills, NJ), Debra Epstein Fried (Chappaqua, NY), Kirsten Blau Krohn (Scarsdale, NY), Jodi Rogoff Gonzalez (Westport, CT), Meagan Heaney Wise (New Canaan, CT), and myself, Lori Attanasio Woodring (Old Greenwich, CT). We missed seeing Maria Del Mar Ortiz Fournier (better known as “Chacha”). Maria recently received her master’s in counseling psychology and is now a licensed psychologist in Puerto Rico, where she has been living since she graduated. Previously, Maria practiced personal injury law for 14 years. For six years, she worked with her father, Jorge Ortiz Brunet ’62, at his law firm. She then took over the firm and ran it for eight years. Maria has now moved on to her second career, helping people in a different way.

Jim Posner (JimPosner@TheMindfulAdvantage.com) also had a change in careers. He recently left Wall Street and is now a personal and corporate meditation instructor. While going through a challenging period years ago, he learned mindfulness meditation. “I now teach for- ward-thinking people and companies how to harness the power of mindfulness to lower stress, improve focus, enhance interpersonal communication, regulate emotional responsiveness, and even increase creativity.” He has worked with Fortune 500 companies, hedge funds, C-suite executives, athletes, and schools, and he even guided a meditation session on Capitol Hill. Jim lives in Manhattan with his wife and two kids. Please feel free to reach out to him.

Alarik Myrin (Duchesne, UT) has been “building soil and plant diversity with adaptive grazing and selling grass-fed beef (cmrbeef.com).” His twin daughters, 15, are also helping out on the ranch and starting to think about college. He would love to hear from Steve Hall and find out if he is still hunting white-tails in the Adirondacks. Alarik also wants to thank Prof. Wayne Knoblauch for thoughtful advising on classes, Prof. Deborah Streeter for balancing detail with the big picture, and all of his other professors for their original work. Jeff Lamontagne was recently named executive director at Dinosaur Ridge, the nation’s top dinosaur track site in Morrison, CO. Jeff shared that his daughter, Sylvie, 13, finished fourth in the Scripps National Spelling Bee and first in the Global Champions Challenge in Beijing, China. He would love to hear from Paul Brunk. Laura Fricke Main is living in Newtown, CT, and is the founding director of academics/ principal at a new charter school in New Haven, CT, that opened in September 2014.

Traci Kissel Helton has been busy at work. She is the owner/operator of Midtown Veterinary Services and Hospital in Winchester, TN. Traci writes, “Work is busy. I’ve taken up running and have finished two half-marathons so far.” David Rickerby wrote in from Cambridge, MA: “I started my own law firm specializing in technology transactions and licensing.” Johnny Tseng checked in from Hong Kong. Robert Leven (Atlanta, GA), a former Hotelie, is currently the chief investment officer for Procaccianti Companies, the seventh largest owner and operator of hotel properties across the country. Rob is married with two children, Jeremy, 15, and Sari, 18, who will be attending Tulane U.

The Philadelphia Section of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) has cited Michael Carroll as the recipient of its Government Service Award for 2017. For the past year, Michael has been an assistant man- aging director for the City of Philadelphia and directs the Office of Transportation and Infrastructure Systems. Previously he was deputy commissioner for transportation and acting commissioner. After Cornell, he received his master’s degrees in civil engineering and city and regional planning from UC Berkeley. He and his family live in the West Mount Airy section of Philadelphia.

And lastly, be on the lookout for Jon Gordon ’93 and Lauren Gallagher’s new book, The Hard Hat for Kids, which is based on Jon Gordon’s adult book, The Hard Hat, about the culture of Cornell lacrosse and a player named George Boiardi ’04. The book’s powerful theme about how to be a good teammate has now been adapted for kids and will be released in time for the holidays.

We love hearing from you. Please send news to: Lori Attanasio Woodring, lori.woodring@yahoo.com; Joe Marraccino, Joe.Marraccino@wfafinet.comTim Vanini, lavanooche@icloud.com; Wendy Milks Coburn, wmilkscoburn@me.com.Online news form, http://alumni.cornell.edu/class-notes/.

Cornell Class of 1991

Notes from the Cornell Class of 1991 - 2017 September/October

Class Notes, 2017 September/October

September/October 2017

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