Todd Snyder ’84 was named one of six Rainmakers of the Year in Institutional Investor (Dec. 2009/Jan. 2010). The feature focused on the people behind six of the world’s top 10 transactions, noting that the economic environment was “perhaps the ultimate challenge for dealmakers.” Considered “a top U.S.-based restructuring specialist at Rothschild,” Snyder had been selected to advise the U.S. government on how to handle the country’s difficulties within the auto industry. Then-Secretary of Commerce Carlos Gutierrez called Snyder on Thanksgiving Day 2008 to let him know that Rothschild had been selected the sole adviser to the government in the rescue—and for the next year, Snyder “slept with his Blackberry under his pillow,” so relentless and imperative was communication between negotiators. “We were trying to figure out how the administration could stabilize the industry and preserve as many jobs as possible, but, at the same time, make a prudent and recoverable investment of taxpayer money,” explains Snyder in the article and recalls that the most challenging talks centered on GM’s Opel/Vauxhall operations in Europe. A May 2008 meeting at Germany’s Chancellery building included German Chancellor Angela Merkel, her economic adviser Jens Weidmann, and GM representative John Smith, with then–GM CEO Fritz Henderson, U.S. Auto Task Force’s Ronald Bloom ’77, and Magna International CEO Frank Stronach participating via conference call. Now, Snyder is leading the financial advisory teams in the reorganizations of Tronox and Visteon.
Joseph Haddad ’78, MD, received the 2008 Leonard Tow Humanism in Medicine Award for his compassionate patient care and as a humanistic role model for students and young physicians. Given by the Arnold P. Gold Foundation, the award was presented at the Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons commencement ceremony last spring. A biology major at Wesleyan, he is a professor of clinical otolaryngology/head and neck surgery, associate dean, and vice chairman of otolaryngology at Columbia. Additionally, he is the director of pediatric otolaryngology/head and neck surgery at Morgan Stanley Children’s Hospital of New York-Presbyterian Columbia University Medical Center, and since, 1991, has been traveling twice a year to Honduras to teach and perform surgery for cleft lip/palate and other facial deformities. He received his M.D. from the New York University School of Medicine. An alumni-elected trustee of Wesleyan, he received the Alumni Service Award in 1988.
Omar Rahim ’96 has been chosen to participate in the Asia Society’s fifth annual Asia 21 Young Leaders Summit. He is among more than 200 emerging leaders—all under the age of 40—from some 30 countries and economies in the Asia-Pacific region. Rahim is an actor, dancer, choreographer, and social entrepreneur who lives and works in New York. He will appear in a feature film titled Meherjaan, which was shot in Bangladesh in 2009/2010 and is due for regional release in January 2011. In his entrepreneurial work, Rahim has established Soof Designs, an award-winning home textile brand that showcases Pakistan’s extraordinary textile heritage and promotes Pakistani craft and design to international buyers and designers worldwide.
Jed Koslow ’99 (above left next to brother Rory ’04) along with Aaron Yowell ’99 and Alex Nemeth ’99, as well as two additional friends, raised more than $34,000 for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, through sponsorships and pledges for their commitment to run in the Wildflower Triathlon, held in Los Angeles last spring. Their team, the Brooklyn Landsharks, trained with Team In Training, a fundraising chapter of the Society. The Landsharks earned a place in a recent book on philanthropy for their success in garnering financial support. “We were assertive and creative,” Koslow explains, with teammates selling and auctioning goods (t-shirts with an original design) and services (a gourmet dinner party, prepared and served by the Landsharks). Koslow, who had never participated in a triathlon before, cites his younger brother, Rory ’04, a two-time triathlete who raised more than $30,000 for the society, as his inspiration. The Koslow brothers look forward to completing future triathlon together.
Catherine Rob Rogers ’91, a Laramie County, Wyo., Circuit Court Magistrate and a private practice attorney, was appointed to the First Judicial District Court by Gov. Dave Freudenthal last September. In a Wyoming Tribune Eagle article, Freudenthal praised her, saying, “Her reputation for honesty and ethics is of the highest order. What makes her uniquely qualified is that the Circuit Court is really the people’s court, and she has a great people sense about her.” A sociology major as an undergraduate, she earned a JD from the University of Wyoming College of Law and was admitted to the Wyoming State Bar in 1998. “I am humbled by the Governor’s confidence in me, and I will do my best to serve the judiciary and the people of Laramie County with fairness, courtesy and a commitment to equal justice,” Rogers said. She is married to Kevin Ohlson ’90.
Jeongdo (Alfred) Hong ’04 was selected as one of this year’s Young Global Leaders by the World Economic Forum, a Geneva-based nonprofit that brings together business and political leaders, intellectuals and journalists to discuss the most pressing international issues, including health and the environment. This year the forum selected 197 Young Global Leaders from 72 countries for their professional accomplishments, commitment to society, and potential to contribute to shaping the future of the world. Hong, of South Korea, is head of strategy for the JoongAng Ilbo, one of the country’s three big newspapers. Klaus Schwab, the founder and executive chairman of the WEF says that the group represents “the voice for the future and the hopes of the next generation” offering “new energy to solve intractable challenges.”
Robert Gardner ’51 recently received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) at the group’s annual meeting this winter in San Diego. Gardner was recognized for writing more than 130 hands-on science books for children during the past 35 years. Terry Young, chairman of the award selection committee, noted that Gardner’s clear presentation of science at all grade levels, along with his creative writing and use of common household materials, have excited thousands of children to get involved in science and understand the scientific method, all while having fun. The AAAS awards, funded by Subaru, are chosen by a select committee appointed by Science Books and Films, a bimonthly publication of AAAS.
Nella Young ’98, who earned her master’s in urban and environmental policy and planning from Tufts, has received the German Chancellor’s Fellowship from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation. The year-long program offers its fellows an opportunity to design a project that will expand their professional expertise. Young, whose particular interest is in developing planning approaches for cities that have experienced large-scale population change, will work with the International Building Exhibition (IBA) Urban Redevelopment Saxony-Anhalt 2010, a partnership between a state planning agency and a private foundation. A studio arts major as an undergraduate at Wesleyan, she hopes to observe particular ways that community-wide arts projects are used to maintain a high quality of life in cities where population is declining.
Lin-Manuel Miranda ’02, Tony-winning playwright and composer of In The Heights and collaborator on the script for Broadway’s West Side Story, was honored at the fundraising gala for El Museo del Barrio, one of New York’s leading Latino cultural institutions. Also honored that night were Luis Ubiñas, the president of the Ford Foundation, and Emilio and Gloria Estefan, for their contributions both to music and to the community. Laura Siegle ’06, development officer for El Museo, shared a moment with her fellow Wesleyan alumnus, in front of the camera.
A story by Paul Yoon ’02, “And We Will Be Here,” was only one of 20 included in the 2009 PEN/O. Henry Prize Stories. Yoon’s winning story is also included in his collection, Once the Shore, his first book, published this year by Sarabande Books. These eight stories are linked by their setting, a South Korean island, and form a portrait of the island, spanning 50 years, from just before the Korean War through the present. When asked in a publisher’s interview about this aspect of setting the stories on an imaginary—but realistic—island, while he, himself, has lived his life in the United States, Yoon explains, “Writing, at least for me, is the act of exploring some aspect of the unknown; there is always that underlying sense of entering ‘foreign territory’ whenever I start a story.”
