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Hi ’04! Hoping this edition of Class Notes finds you well. I’m back with a new round with some fun updates:
Mark Schindler continues to run his consulting firm, OtterBear, helping companies navigate digital transformations and build stronger leadership and operations teams via coaching and advising. This fall, he launched the Second Circle Institute (2CI), a leadership accelerator program and peer-driven community designed to help midlevel leaders grow into strategic, confident executives.
William Gilmore told us back in July that he, Michael Lang, David Whiting, Scott Zimmer, Jon Youngner, and their families gathered in Boston for a long-awaited meetup, reconnecting and reminiscing about the good times they shared at Wes. Mosah Goodman had booked tickets to join but a last-minute business meeting foiled that plan. He and Blake Williams were able to join via video call to share some laughs.
Stephanie Mandell writes in to tell us that last fall she and her husband competed in the World Ultimate (Frisbee) Championships in their age division, and their team won third place! “I hope to have more experiences like that before we all get too old.”
Dorian-Jamal Cool tells us: “I hope you’re doing well. Here are some updates. My fiancée and I married on May 1 of this year. We went to the Shakespeare Garden in Golden Gate Park in San Francisco and made wildflower crowns for each other and jumped the broom (which my aunt made). The other big news is we spent a month in Mother Africa traveling solo in Namibia. We almost died in the desert, we ate the best sushi I’ve ever had, we swam with wild dolphins in a shipyard, and saw a lion pretend he could challenge a rhino—the rhino called his bluff and drank the water. Oh, and we weren’t killed by an angry elephant who just wanted us to get out of his place. He was quite cross.” He also added: “We were those cheesy dorks who, when driving through the desert, played “Africa” by Toto. It was nerdy, but I won’t say it wasn’t totally cool.”
Bernadette Doykos also writes in to share: “I am living in Salt Lake City but working for Kevin Durant and Rich Kleiman’s media company, Boardroom, which is based in NYC. It’s been a big year of getting acclimated to a new home and pining for New England. The good news is that ski trips bring folks through town a fair amount, so I was able to hit some intermediate blues with Brent Taylor ’07 and Jenn Brown this winter!” Bernadette also said that she “had a sweet lil WesLax reunion” with Meriel Darzen and Sonya Behnke Page ’03 at the wedding of Erin Malone ’03, “though we missed Martina McPherson more than words can say.”
She also follows up to shout-outs to Adam Hodge for his selection to the Board of Trustees. “Proud of that guy!” [Insert writer’s note here, I have to echo that!]
We also heard from Adam himself who has been keeping busy too! “This summer, I completed my first half ironman and lived to talk about it. I’m excited to represent the Class of 2004 on the Wesleyan board as an elected trustee. Don’t hesitate to reach out!”
Brian McKenna is living the dream in NYC with his beautiful wife and two daughters. He continues his dedication to the professional passions he discovered at Wes, fusing music/audio with visual storytelling as the founder of BtOVEN MUSIC (www.btovenmusic.com), established in 2009 after launching his career writing jingles.
“Recent work includes: experiential animation for Disney with partner studio Cartuna, under Clio consideration; a growing Telly count, including the most recent 2025 award for work supporting Ukraine on Raw Travel, TV’s #1 rated travel show; cause-driven work with organizations like The Ghetto Film School and NYC–based PSA powerhouse F.Y. Eye, e.g., Rising Tide Effect | Water Wise; and purposeful podcast productions across corporate and entertainment sectors, e.g., Symptomatic with iHeart and Novartis.”
Outside of his work in studio and on location, Brian focuses his time on family, friends, fitness, fun, and foodie culture—in perpetual pursuit of perfecting his lasagna.” =)
As for me, I continue to live in and love Chicago, when I’m not traveling across continents for work. I’m hoping to get back to the East Coast in the late fall to visit the family and some of my favorite neighborhoods!
As always, if you’ve got class notes, please share them at wes04classnotes@gmail.com.
Jenina Nuñez | wes04classnotes@gmail.com