Tag: 2004

Hi, ’04! Thanks for the notes! Some good updates from around the class.

Nick Blondin reports some great news: “I recently was promoted to associate professor of neurology at Yale, and I am the leader of the Neuro-Oncology Clinical Research Team. We are working hard to improve treatment options and outcomes for brain cancer patients. I also enjoyed returning to Wes for the annual water polo alumni reunion game, which was successfully held on April 27.”

Aja Gabel had her second son, Kenzo, in April, and a TV show she wrote on, called Sunny, premieres on Apple TV+ in July. 

Greg Heller can’t believe it has been 20 years! He’s still living in the Fairmount neighborhood of Philly with his wife and two sons (eight and five) and working as an affordable housing consultant at Guidehouse.

Meanwhile, Jhanelle C. Allen-Morris tells us she now lives in Parkland, Florida, with her husband and three kids, practicing emergency medicine and “traveling as often as I can.”

Nora Hanagan is currently a teaching assistant professor of political science at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She also coordinates events for UNC’s Program for Public Discourse; in this role, she brought Michael Roth to campus, and held an event with Ted Shaw ’76. She lives in Durham, North Carolina, with her wife and two daughters.  

Some additional fun news as Kimberley (Thompson) Nixon makes Business Insider’s list of Black investors changing the face venture capital!

Congrats to all the exciting updates!

As always, if you’ve got class notes, please share them with me, Jenina Nuñez, at wes04classnotes@gmail.com.

Hi, ’04—sincerely appreciate you taking the time to send me some updates for this round of notes.

Stephanie Mandell tells us: “Work and family life in Burbank, California, are going well. I continue to play a ton of ultimate and got to compete in nationals in the grandmaster (e.g., old person) division last summer. This was after a lovely visit out East where I saw Josh Kaye, Megan Ridley-Kaye ’05, and Jon Lashley. Looking forward to our 20th Reunion!”

Adam Hodge says: “I just wrapped up my time serving in the Biden administration as spokesperson for the National Security Council and assistant United States trade representative for Public Affairs. Enjoying a nice break with family before figuring out what’s next!”

Raven Maldonado has been settling into her new home in Yonkers, New York, with husband Charlie Goodman, nine-year-old son, Wesley (Wes for short), and two-year-old daughter, Gabriela. She recently started a new position as global people engagement director at Heifer International and is building a consulting practice in diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging, and organizational development. She recently became an ambassador for her upcoming 20-year Wesleyan reunion and is excited to reconnect with classmates in May. Where has the time gone?!

Additionally, Amy Todd moved recently to Portland, Maine, with her husband and two young kids. She mostly parents, works from home for an environmental research organization, and finds some time for other hobbies like beekeeping and biking. She’d love to connect with other Wes alum in the area. 

Nick Vincent is approaching his second anniversary as executive director of the undergraduate career center at Columbia University and is loving life in higher ed. Nick’s son, Leo, is in kindergarten and flourishing in the NYC public school system; validation that taxes are inherently good.

Ashley (Elia) Weller reports she “started a small animal mobile veterinary acupuncture practice two years ago that continues to grow and, she says, has been so rewarding! Also, we are due with our (surprise!) third baby this spring!”

Mark Schindler launched OtterBear Enterprises, an advisory service to help companies navigate the complex landscape of SaaS. Mark offers strategic guidance, organizational design, product development support, as well as innovation and communication improvement strategies. Mark’s goal with OtterBear is to demystify the tech world for successful business leaders stepping into SaaS for the first time, offering them a guiding hand through the complexities of the industry.

Tim Ridout joined the U.S. Navy in January 2022 as an officer. He is currently stationed at the Naval Criminal Investigative Service and lives in northern Virginia.

That’s about it for now! As always, if you’ve got class notes, please share them with me at wes04classnotes@gmail.com.

Hey Class of 2004:

I continue to appreciate all the great updates you’re sharing! That said, see what your classmates are up to:

At a recent meetup in New York City, Nick Malinowski was finally able to extract a Netflix password from David Fine, who had brushed off previous entreaties with his typical affability. Both received a terse email from Gabe Spitzer ’05 who had noticed the exchange on the back end.

Abraham Lateiner is living in the Boston area where he’s been since graduation. His kids, Estella and Lulu, are 13 and 9, respectively, and he is learning the beauty and challenges of parenting a teenager!

During his 20s and early 30s, he taught middle school, got married, and had kids. He tells us: “Then I left teaching and began to learn about community organizing through Resource Generation, which works with young progressive people with wealth toward redistribution of land, wealth, and power. That led me to racial justice work with white people, and then anti-patriarchy work with men, and today, I primarily work with wealthy white men toward personal transformation in service of collective liberation. Lately, after going through a (mostly amicable) divorce, I’ve been rediscovering who I am. I’ve been hard at work promoting a book by my colleague, Garrett Neiman, entitled Rich White Men: What It Takes to Uproot the Old Boys’ Club and Transform America. But I’m most excited about developing a noncoercive debate space for men, called The Arena. When not doing that kind of work, I’m learning how to baton twirl and love taking myself out to the movies. I’m looking forward to seeing folks at reunion next year!”

Christopher Kaminstein tells us: “Living in New Orleans (I’ve been here since 2008) with my wife, Laura Stein ’03, and our three-year-old daughter, Lia. I run a theater company called Goat in the Road Productions that makes original plays and offers educational programming in schools.”

After six years at Fountain, Mark Schindler left the company in June and is starting his own venture. Mark is working with venture capital–backed start-ups in a fractional capacity to advance their organizational development and internal operations. The new business keeps him on the road to NYC and Chicago, and he enjoys playing the Leo McGarry-like role for founders and leaders of companies that are looking to grow or improve their internal organization. Mark recently reconnected with classmate Chris Mele and fellow lacrosse teammate Pete Salisbury ’03 about his new venture, and he and his daughter spent an afternoon in Middletown in August. (Her first college visit!) It was great being back, seeing the old and new buildings, and running into Coach Raba as well.

Kieran Meadows tells us: “Happy to announce that an independent feature documentary I helped produce (and do some music supervision for), Bad Like Brooklyn Dancehall, was an official selection of the 2023 Tribeca Film Festival. At its world premiere in June, our executive producer, Shaggy, gave an exhilarating performance afterward, alongside dancehall star Ding Dong and dancehall legends Screechy Dan and Red Fox. The doc was also the recipient of the 2023 Better Angels Lavine Fellowship (a component of The Library of Congress Lavine/Ken Burns Prize for Film) and was the winner of the 2022 Gotham Documentary Award from Decentralized Pictures Foundation. As of this writing, we’re looking to get the film on a streaming platform so a wider audience can enjoy it. Fingers crossed that will happen soon.

Meanwhile, I can’t believe I’ve been working at Forbes for over a decade now. You can listen to me host the Forbes Daily Briefing seven days a week, which highlights some of the best reporting and stories from Forbes. Go subscribe to it on any podcast platform feed where it’s available. And as always, I continue to plot out the next steps on my ever-evolving journey that is my music/DJ/sound providing career. (Speaking of which, I’m happy to have connected with a whole next generation of Wes alums in Brooklyn via fellow DJ Everton Laidley ’14.)”

I’d like to close this round of notes with a brief recognition of unexpected loss of a fellow Wes ’04 grad, Amy Posocco. She died on a lake in New Hampshire in July. Meeghan Ward shares some words below about her best friend:

“We very sadly and unexpectedly loss a fellow Wes ‘04 grad, Amy Posocco, last weekend. She died in an accident on a lake in New Hampshire, Friday, [July 7, 2023].

Amy was my best friend at Wesleyan—we captained the basketball team together, were roommates three years, and stayed lifelong friends when we lived in Boston, and as both of us moved abroad over the years. I’m heartbroken, as is the vibrant and diverse community of friends and family she built over the years. She was a proud Wes graduate, and her learning there helped her begin a very impactful career in education, setting up programs in the U.S. and abroad in Abu Dhabi.”

Here’s to keeping Amy in mind.

Thank you for all your updates. Please send any upcoming updates to wes04classnotes@gmail.com.

All best,

Jenina

Please write to your class secretaries.

Hi Everyone,

Hoping you’re doing well. Below, some of the most recent updates from members of the Class of 2004:

We hear from Sohana Punithakumar that she’s returned to Seattle after a COVID year “abroad” in Austin. She’s glad to be back in what is surely the most Wesleyan place she’s lived and loved since Middletown. She and her husband Chris welcomed their second child in September. On the work front, she works at Microsoft as a product manager for Xbox.

Ashley Elia Weller tells us: “All is good here. My son is in first grade and my daughter started preschool. Last year I opened my own house-call veterinary practice, Columbus Veterinary Acupuncture! I go to people’s houses and treat their pets using acupuncture, laser therapy, and offer integrative ways to manage their pets’ disease or pain. It’s been really fun and my business continues to grow! I also ran the Columbus Half Marathon this past year! The furthest I had run in a race prior was a 5K!”

Meanwhile, Ho-Tay Ma is living in Jackson Heights, New York, with his wife and toddler son. He has been working in the insurance and reinsurance business since graduation, most recently joining SCOR Reinsurance Company.

Amy Meyerson tells us she’s welcomed her second child in June while finishing her third novel, The Love Scribe, publishing on February 7 from Park Row Books/HarperCollins.

And finally, earlier this year, I (Jenina) had the pleasure of reuniting in Sonoma County, California, with my 9 Vine housemates, Bonnie Oliva-Porter, Monica (Gonzalez) Zuniga, Judivelly Torres, and Cassandra (James) Dixon. We were also joined by some of Bonnie and Cassie’s former Andover classmates to add to the extended weekend! Outside of famous college reunions, my husband and I bought our home in 2021 just outside of Chicago, and I work in international public affairs for a biopharma company, driving communications and patient-engagement strategies in the gastroenterology space.

Thanks!

Lelah Ann Baker-Rabe shares, “Dylan Osborn ’05 and I have put down roots in Norwalk, Connecticut, where we’re replacing our front lawn with a pollinator garden on Connecticut’s Pollinator Pathway and raising two sons. I’m writing and publishing contemporary romance novels under the name ‘Libby Waterford’ and teaching genre fiction at the Westport Writers’ Workshop.”

Please write in with your news and updates anytime!

After serving as the country director of Ashoka, Philippines, for the past seven years, Terri Jayme-Mora tells us “I’ve moved my little family of four from Manila to Vancouver, British Columbia.  I am enjoying my new role as special projects lead for Firetree Philanthropy and have also cofounded the Democratic Insights Group focused on voter centeredness and electoral competitiveness in the Philippines.”

Meanwhile, Mark Schindler is a senior director at Fountain, where he leads the team responsible for helping their customers source high-volume hourly workers. Fountain recently closed their Series C funding, led by SoftBank and B Capital, and have grown the team to 175 people worldwide (from just 15 people when Mark started!). Mark has enjoyed the, albeit very slow, renewal of travel and finally meeting colleagues who he has only ever met on Zoom.

Nick Blondin shares that he’s just started his fourth year as a neuro-oncologist at Smilow Cancer Hospital at Yale, and loves caring for my patients. This May will be his 12th wedding anniversary with Rebecca Gordon ’06. His kids, Alice (4th grade) and Danny (kindergarten), are both vaccinated and in school. “I enjoy spending my free time biking on Zwift!”

Elaina Dellacava reports: “My husband Adam and I welcomed a baby boy (William Joseph) in August of this year, one day before our daughter Sienna turned two. I continue to work as a psychiatrist at New York Presbyterian/Cornell, and am switching roles to focus on the geriatric population with an interest in addressing loneliness in that group of patients. Hoping everyone is healthy and happy as we start 2022.”

Dael Norwood has also  just published his first book, Trading Freedom: How Trade with China Defined Early America (University of Chicago Press). An academic monograph, it investigates the politics of the first century of commerce between China and the United States. Wesleyan’s campus has an “old China trade” connection too: Russell House, the Greek Revival mansion on the corner of Washington and High Streets, is the former home of Samuel Russell—the founder of the largest American opium smuggling firm operating in China during the 19th century.

Greg Heller left his public-sector role as executive director of the Philadelphia Redevelopment Authority in the fall to join management consulting firm Guidehouse as a director and housing subject-matter expert. Greg is building on his Philly work to help partners around the country develop equitable, resilient communities where everyone can have a quality, affordable home. Governing recently published Greg’s article about how we can draw from lessons in disaster recovery to more urgently address America’s housing stability crisis.

Over in Florida, Brian Hennessey tells us: “I’m living on Miami Beach and am still the Wes alumni regional representative for south Florida and trying hard to not become a “Florida Man.”  I’m happy to meet up with any Wes alums among the droves of folks moving to Miami to work remotely under a palm tree. I can provide expert guidance on how to avoid being hit by falling iguanas or coconuts, among other useful tips.”

Please write to your class secretaries.