Notes from the Cornell Class of 1991 - 2014 January/February

Class Notes, 2014 January/February

January/February 2014

Happy New Year! I hope the holiday season was a festive one for you and yours. To kick off the year, your class officers are busy coming up with programs for classmates to share in our Big Red spirit. On that note, please welcome Scott Lewis, who has joined the class officers as a member of the Class Council. If you would like to help with an event in your neck of the woods or our almost around-the-corner reunion, please contact us at cornell91@cornell.edu.

Steve Schuller is working for Plano, TX-based retailer JCPenney, where he leads the Talent Development team. In addition, he and Kyle Rose welcomed a new baby boy to the family in January 2013, Kellan Reed Schuller Rose ("Cornell Class of 2035?"). They have already bought him his first Cornell sweatshirt. David Peck, MPA '92, is busy in Pound Ridge, NY, as a managing partner at the Freiberg, Peck & Kang LLP multi-state litigation law firm. "I celebrated my son Simon's bar mitzvah on September 21, 2013. Many fellow alumni were present, including Rob Cignarella, Matt Joseph, Ken and Elissa Wasserberger Miller '92, Doug Greene, and Andrew McDonald '88. It was a very special day!" What great proof that the bonds we formed on the Hill last across the years and the miles. Andrew J. Peters writes that his debut novel, The Seventh Pleiade, a story of a young gay prince who becomes a hero during the last days of Atlantis, is available on Amazon and from Bold Strokes Books. He credits Creative Writing instructors Kerry Dolan, MFA '90, and Diane McFarlane. "Those courses toughened me up to brave the publishing world."

Kyle Karnes (kkarnes@studentagencies.com) and his family have relocated to Ithaca--and Kyle has returned to Cornell. "I have started as the new CEO of Student Agencies and we are in the process of relocating to Ithaca with our three daughters. We look forward to connecting with any Cornell friends who may be living in or visiting Ithaca." Kate Pierson Lundin writes from Beijing, where she has been for the past three years. "We moved here in 2011 for my husband Steve's job (country manager for Marsh China). I'm taking a break from working and am home with our two boys, Gunnar, 7, and Axel, 5. Beijing is such a dynamic city and we are taking the opportunity to experience a lot of amazing travel in the region. This year we have been to the ice festival in Harbin, China (the coldest I have ever been in my life--beyond anything experienced in Ithaca!), the Philippines, Vietnam, and Kyoto and Tokyo in Japan." She adds, "I'm looking forward to getting plugged into the alumni network in Beijing and hope to see some fellow Cornellians in the area."

Emily Kramer Neill, writing from Natick, MA, reflects on the last decade. "After graduating from the Hotel school, I spent about ten years in the industry (in London, Chicago, and Boston) before leaving to join the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce." Emily shifted careers again after four years and joined the energy industry, eventually becoming RVP for Constellation Energy. "After two kids (DJ, 5, and Addison, 7), and finding myself traveling throughout the US and spending very little time at home, I decided to leave corporate America and am now president of Junior Achievement of Northern New England. It's incredibly rewarding to know that every day, my team and I impact at-risk youth throughout Massachusetts and New Hampshire by teaching them financial literacy, workforce readiness, and entrepreneurship skills they don't currently learn in the public school system. I'd love to hear from my fellow Hotelies, KDs, and/or anyone who wants to get involved with Junior Achievement." Marcy Sacks (Albion, MI) has been promoted to full professor of history at Albion College. She is literally running strong, and writes, "I am a grateful survivor of the 2013 Boston Marathon. I will be running my seventh consecutive Boston Marathon in 2014." Alan Rosen (Purchase, NY) just opened a new restaurant--"Enduro, a modern American grill at 56th St. and Third Ave. in New York City!"

Elizabeth Voulieris Kassinis notified us of a couple of mini-reunions when Class of 1991 friends Eric Gomes, Maryanne DePresco, Marina Niforos Perez, and Elizabeth and husband George '90 caught up with each another in Paris and New York recently. Eric took time off from his marathon-running schedule (he's competed in 47 of the 50 US states) and growing medical practice in Princeton, NJ, to visit Marina in Paris, where she is the managing director of the American Chamber of Commerce in France. Earlier in the year, Marina's family hosted Elizabeth and her family, who are living in Cyprus, where Elizabeth works at the US Embassy managing the US foreign assistance program for USAID. Between them, Marina and Elizabeth have five daughters who became fast friends.

In July, part of the group was able to get together for brunch in NYC, where Maryanne was taking care of city business as a marketing consultant for Nielsen. She usually works from a home office in the woods of Burlington, VT. Maryanne shares a newfound interest in "birdwatching" with George Kassinis, who teaches strategy and management at the U. of Cyprus's Dept. of Business Administration in Nicosia. Everyone missed Susan Halebsky Dimock, who was too busy as the interim director of the Illinois in Washington program in D.C. to join them this summer!

Don't forget that you can submit class notes anytime by visiting http://www.alumni.cornell.edu/participate/class-notes.cfm. *Charles Wu, ccwu@mac. com; Tom Greenberg, twg22@cornell.edu; and Wendy Milks Coburn, wmilkscoburn@me.com. CAM Digital Edition, http://www.cornellalumnimagazine-digital.com.