Class Notes - 2019 January/February, Cornell University Class of 1991

Class Notes, 2019 January/February

January/February 2019

While we all enjoy reminiscing about Cornell, some of our classmates are lucky enough to spend time there. Pat Breznay Frank recently announced, “I am very happy to report that I was able to enjoy freshman orientation this August by dropping my daughter off to be part of the Cornell Class of 2022.”

Other classmates continue to enjoy college life while working on various campuses. Lisa Dale is now teaching at Columbia U. in the undergraduate sustainable development program. “This is a relatively new job for me. I’ve been here a year and hope to stay indefinitely!” Her research includes a look at the policy elements of wildfire and public lands management in the American West, with a focus on climate change adaptation in Sub-Saharan Africa. Lisa’s older son is living in Berlin, where he is working as a photojournalist and studying German. Her younger son is at Brooklyn College and preparing to study abroad in Spain for the year. Lisa remembers one of the first people she met freshman year was Jenny Harris, who is still a close friend of hers today. They live near one another in NYC and see each other often.

Andrew Hostetler is an associate professor and associate chair in the psychology department at the U. of Massachusetts, Lowell. He gets the most satisfaction from his community work and research with older adults. The first person he met at Cornell was Neil Gladstone ’90. If Andrew had a day to spend in Ithaca he would start with an early morning hike at either Cascadilla Gorge, Six Mile Creek Gorge, or Buttermilk Falls State Park, followed by an afternoon wine tasting and lunch on Seneca Lake, “appetizers” (meaning food samples) at Wegmans, and then dinner and drinks on the Commons. Now that sounds like a perfect Ithaca day!

Also in Massachusetts, Jana Pompadur Kierstead has been working for Harvard Business School for almost 20 years now. She is currently executive director of both the MBA and doctoral programs. Jana recently joined the boards of the Museum of Science, Boston and Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital-Needham. Jana lives in Needham, MA, with her husband, Tim, and her three children, Olivia, 17, Alana, 15, and Lane, 12. In her free time you can find her in the stands watching her daughters play high school volleyball or cheering for her son on the soccer field or basketball court. While on the Harvard campus, Jana gets to spend time with classmate David Roberts. David has served as the dean for external education at Harvard Medical School since 2014. He completed his internal medicine training at Massachusetts General Hospital and a pulmonary and critical care fellowship in the Harvard Combined Program. Building his career as a pulmonologist at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, much of David’s work has focused on the intersection of medicine and medical education, earning him a national reputation as a highly collaborative and innovative medical educator.

William Wechsler wrote in from Bethesda, MD, noting that he recently joined the Atlantic Council to lead the think tank’s work on the Middle East. Sara Weaver stated, “I am thriving in the Bay Area in California, following graduating from Fuqua School of Business in 2000. I’m advising companies on commercial strategies, including marketing/sales/customer service, and am focused on digital health and medical device industries.” Robert Spencer, PhD ’97, is still enjoying his work at Intel in Oregon and shared, “My older daughter started her fresh- man year at Colby College in Maine and our other daughter is a sophomore in high school.” If Robert were back in Ithaca for the day, he would bike around campus and get pizza in Collegetown.

On the entrepreneurial side of things, a few of our classmates have started their own businesses. Jeffrey Pease ’89, MBA ’91, wrote, “In 2016, after two CMO roles, I struck out on my own. Message Mechanics helps companies create and communicate clear stories that sell.” Jeffrey moved four years ago from San Francisco to NYC with his wife, Cynthia, and “wonder dog” Grady. He recently created a new training program called “Presenting to the Attention Challenged” and he is enjoying rolling it out. Jeffrey remembers “two Davids, Prof. David Dunning in Psychology and Prof. David BenDaniel at the Johnson School, who had the most long-term impact on my life.” Meagan Heaney Wise and her husband, John, recently launched their own barbecue sauce company called the Palmetto Sauce Co. They currently offer two different styles of sauces based on John’s family recipes and regional style sauces from South Carolina. “We are having a blast learning about all aspects of the food merchandising business and are incredibly grateful for all of the support from our family and friends.” For more information and to order, check out their website: www.thepalmetto sauceco.com. I can promise you that once you try their sauces you may never buy another brand!

Please remember to drop us a note and share what you have been doing. We love hearing from you! Online news can be submitted at http://alumni.cornell.edu/class-notes/ or feel free to contact one of us at: Lori Woodring, lori.woodring@yahoo.com; Joe Marraccino, Joe.Marraccino@wfafinet.comTim Vanini, lavanooche@icloud.com; Wendy Milks Coburn, wmilkscoburn@me.com.

Cornell Class of 1991

Notes from the Cornell Class of 1991 - 2019 January/February

Class Notes, 2019 January/February

January/February 2019

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