CLASS OF 1994 | 2020 | ISSUE 1
Greetings from frigid Chicago! It was wonderful to hear from many of our classmates—some who had not provided updates for quite some time!
Deborah Lowenthal Sorin, for example, said she had not written since the birth of her daughter—now 10! Her husband Dan,(a professor at Duke) and she have lived in Durham, N.C., for 17-plus years, excluding two sabbaticals, one to Portland, Ore., in 2010, and one in 2017-2018 to Edinburgh, Scotland. Her family has enjoyed living abroad and going to school. She writes, “During term breaks, we traveled all over Europe. Seeing Carnival in Malta was the coolest thing ever.” While in Edinburgh, Deborah took a job at international development consultancy, Challenges Group, and has been working remotely for them since they returned to the U.S. Deborah also serves on the Board of Directors of FosterClub, the national nonprofit for youth in foster care.
From others on the East Coast:
Matthew Solomon lives in Washington, D.C., with his family, where he practices securities law. Matt attended the 25th year Reunion and enjoyed catching up with Emily Henn and Sid Espinoza, among others. His 12-year-old daughter, Callie, already has her sights set on Wes, and Matt needs to break the news to her that she likely won’t be recruited as a ‘rock climber’.”
Marc Waxman writes that he moved his family to Wrentham, Mass., about three years ago to settle on a small “farm” (they have a couple horses and a bunch of chickens, dogs, and cats). He writes, “My two teenage sons keep me busy—very much enjoy watching them in organized athletics, and not so much enjoy working through the various injuries that are part of the process.” Marc also became executive director of Mindfulness Director Initiative which he co-founded about a year ago where the mission is to work toward every school community having a full-time mindfulness director. Marc would love to hear from anyone who are interested in being a mindfulness director or would love to see one at their local school. Email him at mwaxman@mindfulnessdirector.org.
Joseph Stein recently started new job at Natixis Advisors in Boston as director of quantitative research. He also joined the board of a nonprofit called Speak for the Trees, which works to increase tree canopy in Boston, particularly in lower income communities. He has two kids (7 and 9) who are doing great and enjoying school.
Aaron Passell is enjoying his work as associate director of urban studies at Barnard College and is soon to get his second book out. He also would love to hear from other Wes urbanists. Working in New York allows him to see Jesse Hendrich and Seth Lewis Levin, and sometimes even Scott Rosenberg, visiting from California. He also often crosses paths with Amy Fiske ’95 in Philadelphia.
From the West Coast:
Kate Gordon is going into her second year as Governor Gavin Newsom’s Senior Advisor on Climate Policy, as well as the director of the Governor’s Office of Planning and Research. She writes, “I can honestly say the job is never boring and is often incredibly exciting—though daunting, especially as we grapple with utility bankruptcies, fires, and just the sheer size of managing the world’s fifth largest economy. So far, the commute from Berkeley to Sacramento hasn’t killed me, mostly thanks to Amtrak and its cafe car. My husband Gino Segre is helping to run a life sciences business incubator program called QB3, which includes working to turn UC Berkeley’s former art museum into an incubator space. Kids are now nearly 13 and 8 and doing great.”
Tanya Bowers is working on the Diversity and Inclusion/Equal Employment Opportunity Panel for Pacific Northwest National Laboratory and chairing the planning commission for the City of Pasco. She invites us to look her up if you find yourselves in Eastern Washington.
Olivia Morgan writes that, “together with California First Partner, Jennifer Siebel Newsom, I just launched a nonprofit called the California Partners Project to focus on closing gender gaps in California. We will also be advocating on behalf of children’s well-being and mental health, especially as it relates to the effects of media and technology, industries which lead our economy and shape the world.” You can read about her recent project that received some publicity in Politico.
Olivia also updated us that Sid Espinoza moved to San Francisco and she re-connected with Erica Walters who also is raising teen boys at the same high school as Olivia’s teen boys! Olivia saw Leyda Carvajal in Portland, Ore., last spring, where she is raising two boys and works as an anesthesiologist.
Stephanie Anagnoson is the director of water and natural resources for Madera County, in California’s Central Valley. She works with residents and farmers to achieve groundwater sustainability.
From the international front:
Eric Byler writes that he moved his wife and kids (4 and 2) to Australia a year ago planning to return to the filmmaking (narrative) after more than a decade in documentary film and journalism. He writes, “The recent fires, and our narrow escape, led to this piece for The Intercept, and this video. It looks like I’ll be writing more about the climate crisis and its devastating impacts in Australia. I try to get out of journalism, and events pull me back in. But in the year I’ve been in Canberra, Australian Capital Territory (ACT), I’ve written the screenplay for a film that follows a Chinese-Australian woman to her family’s ancient compound in China, which is, of course, haunted.”
David Campbell is halfway through his second assignment with Dell Technologies, currently serving as their CFO in Japan. He is “having a blast with my wife Brenna (25 years this April . . . yes, we got married less than a year after graduation) and our two youngest girls who are studying at the International School of the Sacred Heart here in Tokyo. We already have one college graduate and two others studying back in Texas while we are on assignment. Had a great chance to catch up with my homestay family from my junior year abroad in Kyoto. Would love to catch up with anyone else in the area, especially as the Olympics approach! You can reach me at dcampbell72@gmail.com or LinkedIn.”
Suzie Purcell Byers and husband Carl Bradford Byers ’93 are moving to Spain this summer so Suzie can begin serving as head of school at Madrid Montessori. Suzie said, “Carl will continue his venture capital work at F-Prime and his teaching of finance at Harvard, which means that he’ll be traveling back and forth across the pond a lot. Our son, Jake ’21, will be in his senior year as a film and English double-major at Wesleyan, so he’ll visit us during vacations until his graduation. We’re holding out hope that he’ll find a job in Europe, but it’s more likely that he’ll find himself back in Hollywood where he has been reading scripts during breaks. Our daughter, Emily, probably will choose to do a gap year in between graduating from Concord Academy and starting college (not sure where as of now). Our youngest, Katie, will be attending The American School of Madrid for high school. If you happen to be in the Iberian Peninsula, please email us at byersfamily@icloud.com so we can reconnect!”
And, finally, from the Midwest:
I (Samera) am enjoying practicing law at my new firm, L&G Law Group in Chicago and serving on the Board of Directors at the Chicago High School For the Arts. My twin daughters, Sarah and Norah—almost 11—are doing well. We survived our first ever trip to Disney back in November with my sister, Humera Syeda ’90 and her kids. My other sister, Sohera Syeda ’96, could not make it so we plan on visiting her and her kids in Boston in the Spring.
It is wonderful to keep up with all of you here as well as many of you on Facebook. If your travels bring you to Chicago, please look me up!
Samera Syeda Ludwig | samera.ludwig@gmail.com
Caissa Powell | cdp2000@hotmail.com