Kyle Smith Takes the Helm in Levien Gym - Columbia College ...

Columbia CollEgE Today CLAss NOTEs
Twenty-four of us were chosen
for these appointments. At the
request of Congress and the Bush
administration, I investigated
terrorism and terrorist financing
activity. Most of what I did is classified
and cannot be discussed.
In December 2006, President
Bush reappointed me to a second
recess term. In 1987, I completed
a master’s on a fellowship from
Chicago, where I wrote my thesis
on the Nuremberg Trial of German
banker Hjalmar Schacht, who
helped rearm Germany in violation
of the Kellogg-Briand Pact
and the Treaty of Versailles. In my
recent job, I incorporated my research
to identify money laundering
and other suspicious activities
inside the United States.”
And if Richard is unable to hunt
you down, I need only turn over
your dossiers to phil segal, our
class’ Philip Marlowe. Phil recently
was interviewed on PBS regarding
his expertise in assisting lawyers and
others as a private investigator. He
has shown a keen insight in Internet
security matters and has provided
his services on dating sites and other
e-commerce venues. Check out his
website: charlesgriffinllc.com.
By using techniques provided
by these guys, and the folks at
TMZ, I was able to dig up info
on wayne weddington iii and
his wife, Gabrijela, on their recent
dream nuptials in Croatia! (Actually,
Wayne “volunteered” the following
details, but I can’t discuss
my methods at this time.)
“I chose Dubrovnik because it is
a place we have enjoyed together
many times, and it is magically
beautiful. Most important, it is
close to Gabrijela’s family, which I
thought was important since she
spends at least 11 months a year
away from them.
“Gabrijela’s family is a close-knit
cluster of strong women in a village
about 30 miles east of Zagreb. There
are no men there, effectively attritioned
by the transition of Yugoslavia
to its separate states, including
Croatia. When I visit I am the only
man, so it is always eventful.”
To see a most amazing and professional
wedding video, check out
youtube.com/watch?v=YwI5w
TDulFo.
Aside from his one-time stint
as a GQ model (as reported here
some years ago), Wayne is a partner
at Brunswick Capital Partners
and author of Do-It-Yourself Hedge
Funds: Everything You Need to Make
Millions Right Now.
This just in: James Piereson,
president of the Willian E. Simon
Foundation and senior fellow at
the Manhattan Institute, wrote an
op-ed in the September 3 Wall Street
Journal, “Where Columbia Beats
Harvard: On the Battlefield of Cur-
ricula.” He basically tells the world
what we have always known: that
Columbia’s Core Curriculum is second
to none. Kudos, Mr. Piereson!
Wishing you all a wonderful
holiday season.
85
Jon white
16 South Ct.
Port Washington, NY 11050
jw@whitecoffee.com
Part II of our 25th reunion report:
On Saturday morning, June 5,
a second Glee Club rehearsal was
held. In addition to those previously
mentioned, it was really great to
see tim tomasi, rich froehlich
and tom scotti as part of our wellrepresented
class.
Tim has worked in the U.S. Attorney’s
Office in Vermont for the
last three years, after having worked
for the Vermont Attorney General.
He enjoyed the work but had a bit
longer commute (40 minutes, which
for Vermont is a lot more than NYC).
He has three kids (13, 12 and 8), and
he is involved in coaching them.
Rich is e.v.p. for Capital Markets
and general counsel of the New
York City Housing Development
Corp. (HDC) and all of its subsidiaries.
He also is an adjunct assistant
professor of public finance at
the Graduate School of Architecture,
Planning and Preservation.
Rich directs the corporation’s legal
department as well as its bond
and finance activities and also is
responsible for managing the corporation’s
finance divisions including
cash management, capital
markets, loan servicing, accounting
and budget. Rich has been
the main coordinator of HDC’s
preservation efforts, which have
led to the continued affordability
of approximately 20,000 units of
low- and middle-income housing
in New York City. He also has been
a leader in designing and implementing
HDC’s participation in
NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s
New Housing Marketplace Plan to
build and preserve 165,000 units of
affordable housing.
Prior to joining HDC, Rich was
with O’Melveny & Myers and Skad-
den, Arps, and was an assistant
general counsel at the New York
State Housing Finance Agency. Rich
also is a board member of the National
Leased Housing Association,
a national organization representing
private and public participants in
the affordable multifamily rental
housing industry. Rich has recently
been selected to join the governing
committee of the American Bar
Association Forum on Affordable
Housing and Community Development
Law. He is a past chairman of
the New York City Bar Association
Committee on Housing and Urban
NOvEMBER/DECEMBER 2010
59
Development and he was a board
member of New Destiny Housing
Corp., a not-for-profit dedicated to
developing and managing housing
for domestic violence survivors
during 2002–10. Rich is working on
a law review article on the creation
of multifamily housing recycled
bonds and their use in the financing
of affordable housing. He lives in
Chelsea.
Tom came in from Boston with
his wife, Karen, and their 16-year-old
daughter. Tom is president of the
Appraisal and Valuation division of
Gordon Brothers Group, based in
Boston.
I spent some great time at Saturday’s
lunch with the irrepressible
Michael cho, who had come from
San Francisco with his wife, Julie,
and three kids (10, 9 and 5). After
living in New York (Julie had attended
the Business School), they
have now been in San Francisco for
13 years. They spent an extended
weekend in New York taking in
the theater. Mike is as entertaining
as ever and remains in charge
of Destination RX. He and John
phelan had a great discussion
about the new healthcare law, and
I have no doubt that both of their
cutting-edge concepts will play a
prominent role in the future.
At lunch, I caught up with
steve sivakoff, who has 18-yearold
twins who started college this
fall. (One child at college is quite
enough for me.) Steve is an adjunct
lecturer in entrepreneurship in the
Department of Management of the
Zicklin School of Business at CUNY
Baruch. He previously worked at
The Polytechnic Institute of NYU,
where he taught coursework in
entrepreneurship and innovation
capital. Steve has extensive experience
in the online media industry
and is a pioneer in secure digital
data distribution. He helps direct
corporate strategy and business
development at start-up technology
companies with a focus on Internet
information technology.
After lunch, I borrowed the
Phelan family room in Carman to
change into Glee Club concert attire
(the Carman cinderblocks look the
same). The concert went amazingly
well, considering how we had little
rehearsal time, different arrangements
and much vocal rust. The
performance was enjoyed by participants
and the several hundred
alums/friends/family members
who attended.
Our more formal class dinner
was held on Saturday in the lovely
space of the second floor of Casa
Italiana (which I had never seen
in all my years associated with
Columbia). I got to spend all-toobrief
time with many classmates.
Judah cohen has four children
and studies meteorology for a
living (the serious stuff, not just
the weatherman type). He is the
director of seasonal forecasting at
Atmospheric and Environmental
Research, where he has been since
1998. Prior to AER, Judah spent two
years as a National Research Council
Fellow at the NASA Goddard
Institute for Space Studies after two
years as a research scientist at MIT’s
Parsons Laboratory. He has focused
on conducting numerical experiments
with global climate models
and advanced statistical techniques
to better understand climate variability
and to improve climate
prediction. In addition to his research
interests, Judah directs AER’s
development of seasonal forecast
products for commercial clients,
who include some of the largest
investment firms in the United
States. He has been interviewed on
local and national television and by
The Wall Street Journal, Boston Globe
and Investor’s Business Daily, among
others. Judah’s work is highlighted
as breakthrough technology by the
National Science Foundation. He
lives in Newton, Mass., along with
my Glee Club cohorts Jon Abbott
’84 and Cathy Schwartz Cotton ’83
Barnard.
barry Kanner is an attorney. He
resides in Hackensack, N.J., and
has two children.
Adam Fleischer ’87 lives in Santa
Cruz and since 2005 has been a marketing
copywriter, project manager
and consultant there, offering business
writing and consulting services,
including strategic messaging,
writing, editing, information architecture,
instructional design, SEO,
research and project management.
I had far too little time to chat
with two of my former Barnard/
Macintosh lunch pals. gary brown
last year was named chief compliance
officer at Computer Associates
on Long Island, where he has
responsibility for the handling of
compliance issues and management
of compliance improvement
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