Japan Storm - Columbia College - Columbia University
Japan Storm - Columbia College - Columbia University
Japan Storm - Columbia College - Columbia University
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COLUMBIA COLLEGE TODAY CLASS NOTES<br />
tion in June 2010 and has been<br />
teaching regularly since then. She<br />
also started an independent record<br />
label, Plan B Recordings (planbre<br />
cordingsnyc.com), about three years<br />
ago with her business partner, DJ<br />
Spider. Not only does she release<br />
music regularly, but Lola also works<br />
on her own music production as<br />
dakini9. “I make electronic dance<br />
music,” Lola writes, “mostly deep<br />
house and techno. Anyone interested<br />
in my yoga practice or music can<br />
view my blog dakinisbliss.com.”<br />
David Robbins went on to<br />
medical school, settled down in<br />
Battery Park and is “happily single<br />
in the city.” He works at Lenox<br />
Hill Hospital in a field known as<br />
interventional endoscopy. “I was<br />
trained as a gastroenterologist, but<br />
most of my work relates to early<br />
cancer detection and treatment of<br />
digestive cancers,” he writes. “I get<br />
to do some teaching and clinical<br />
research as well — good times!”<br />
Laurie (Galluzzi) Reid lives in<br />
Syracuse, N.Y., with her children, 5<br />
and 7, and teaches ecology at Bryant<br />
& Stratton <strong>College</strong>. “I still have<br />
fond memories of Bacchante, Fiddler<br />
on the Roof, The Wiz and The Varsity<br />
Show,” she writes.<br />
Miranda Pinckert lives in Menlo<br />
Park, Calif., with her husband,<br />
Christian, and their 2-year-old<br />
daughter. Miranda worked for<br />
Yahoo! for many years and now<br />
is finishing a doctorate in clinical<br />
psychology.<br />
And finally, my own update:<br />
After almost three years working<br />
for the Minnesota Department<br />
of Health in communications, I<br />
recently started a new job as associate<br />
director of public relations for<br />
OptumHealth, part of the health<br />
services arm of UnitedHealth<br />
Group. I am in charge of leading<br />
strategic planning for external<br />
communications and media and<br />
public relations for OptumHealth’s<br />
Care Solutions division, which<br />
provides a broad range of health<br />
and wellness services including<br />
tobacco cessation, disease management<br />
and diagnosis support. A big<br />
change from the public sector, but<br />
very interesting so far.<br />
Thanks to everyone who wrote<br />
in! Until next time.<br />
95<br />
Janet Lorin<br />
127 W. 96th St., #2GH<br />
New York, NY 10025<br />
jrf10@columbia.edu<br />
While Hurricane Irene ruined our<br />
family vacation in August, it brought<br />
a nice reunion with Ari Abramowitz,<br />
who also lived on Carman 10.<br />
My husband, Scott, our 3-yearold<br />
son, Ike, and 1-year-old daughter,<br />
Charlie, evacuated the beach<br />
house where we were vacationing<br />
near Westerly, R.I., and headed to<br />
Providence. Scott found a restaurant<br />
for dinner, and soon after we<br />
sat down Ike began talking to a<br />
little girl at the table next to us. I<br />
looked up to talk with her dad, and<br />
it was Ari!<br />
“How serendipitous! Sitting at<br />
abutting tables with Janet at the<br />
only restaurant in Providence to<br />
stay open throughout Irene,” Ari<br />
writes. “I was taking the family<br />
(wife and trio of kids) on an Eastern<br />
seaboard road trip (Chevy Chasestyle),<br />
with stops on the Vineyard<br />
(hanging out with Christine Lai<br />
and her family), in Providence and<br />
in Boston. Even splurged on a Sox<br />
game (though we had to endure<br />
typically awful pitching courtesy<br />
of John Lackey). The kids were<br />
psyched as long as they could order<br />
cotton candy.”<br />
Ari’s kids are Logan (6), Gabby<br />
(4) and Brynn (2). He is still in New<br />
York, is a copyright/entertainment<br />
lawyer and digs for good music.<br />
Ari and his wife, Gwen, have been<br />
married for nine years. The couple<br />
met at business school. Gwen went<br />
to Michigan and was in brand<br />
marketing at Kraft.<br />
“I keep thinking I’ll magically<br />
run into someone from our class<br />
on the street,” he writes. “But it<br />
somehow almost never happens.<br />
Only in Providence.”<br />
Ari’s mention of Christine was a<br />
good reason to check in with her.<br />
After graduation, Christine<br />
worked in equity research on the<br />
sell side, first at Sanford Bernstein<br />
and later at JPMorgan, covering<br />
property casualty insurance companies.<br />
She left to join her then-boss at<br />
the insurance company Chubb. She<br />
moved over to the buy side — first<br />
at Chilton Investment Co., where<br />
she followed European financials,<br />
and then later at Carlson Capital,<br />
where she traded global insurance<br />
companies.<br />
Christine left the buy side after<br />
her son, Spencer, now 7, was born.<br />
Two years later, she had Wesley,<br />
now 5. From 2006–09, she was CFO<br />
of Dr. Bobby, a dermatological-level<br />
skincare line for children created<br />
by a pediatric dermatologist. In<br />
2002, she married Craig Elkind ’91<br />
Business.<br />
“Since 2009 I’ve been a full-time,<br />
stay-at-home mom,” Christine<br />
writes. “We live in Greenwich (since<br />
2001) and spend summers on Martha’s<br />
Vineyard. Periodically we have<br />
mini <strong>Columbia</strong> gatherings at our<br />
house that include the Abramowitzes,<br />
Robyn Pangi Sassaman, Sura<br />
Alammar Rathore, Kelly Dailey and<br />
Kevin Dailey ’95 GS.”<br />
Robyn earned a master’s in<br />
public policy from Harvard’s John<br />
F. Kennedy School of Government<br />
in 2000 and stayed on at the Kennedy<br />
School as a researcher with<br />
the executive session on domestic<br />
preparedness for a few years.<br />
She married Corey Sassaman in<br />
2002, and they moved to Kalamazoo,<br />
Mich. While they were living<br />
in the Midwest, they adopted two<br />
children from Kazakhstan: Hayden<br />
(7) and Kathryn (5). She freelanced<br />
for The Kalamazoo Gazette, writing<br />
a weekly column and editing a<br />
monthly magazine, while staying<br />
home with the kids.<br />
The family now lives in Wood-<br />
Ridge, N.J., outside of New York,<br />
and for the last three years Robyn<br />
has been working for the New York<br />
County (Manhattan) District Attorney’s<br />
Office as director of legislative<br />
affairs and special projects.<br />
Danny Ackerman writes from<br />
the West Coast that he started teaching<br />
a white-collar crime seminar<br />
at Loyola Law. “I’ve been living in<br />
South Pasadena for 10 years, still<br />
single, no kids and enjoying life,”<br />
he writes.<br />
I ran into Eric Roston ’93 at<br />
Bloomberg, where I have worked<br />
for 3½ years. Eric lives in D.C. with<br />
his wife, Karen Yourish ’98J, and<br />
their daughter Madeline (4). Karen<br />
is deputy graphics director of The<br />
Washington Post.<br />
Eric is the sustainability editor<br />
of Bloomberg Businessweek (busi<br />
nessweek.com), which is a website<br />
about the global race among countries<br />
and companies for resources<br />
— energy, commodities and ideas.<br />
96<br />
WINTER 2011–12<br />
87<br />
A group of CC ’94 classmates, all mothers, vacation together yearly “to<br />
reconnect and share the wonderful joys of motherhood. Nine kids in<br />
total between all the ladies, so that’s a lot of complaining … err, excuse<br />
me, celebrating how hard we work all year,” shares Sharene (Barnett)<br />
Wood. Relaxing in Miami Beach at The Palms Hotel in mid-May 2010<br />
were (left to right) Annys Shin, Wood, Kemba Dunham, Nicole (Johnson)<br />
Sanders and Leslie De Lara Luck. The group has traveled to Mexico,<br />
Miami, Scottsdale and Las Vegas.<br />
Ana S. Salper<br />
24 Monroe Pl., Apt. MA<br />
Brooklyn, NY 11201<br />
asalper@ebglaw.com<br />
Greetings, classmates, and happy<br />
winter. Only a bit of notes for you<br />
this time around.<br />
I am happy to report that my<br />
good friend Matt Lasner has<br />
returned to New York from Atlanta<br />
to accept a position as an assistant<br />
professor in the Department of Urban<br />
Affairs & Planning at Hunter<br />
<strong>College</strong>. Welcome back, Matt! He<br />
reports that Bekah Burgess works<br />
in the Department of Drawings<br />
and Prints at The Metropolitan<br />
Museum of Art.<br />
Don’t let the momentum from<br />
our reunion subside — please<br />
send in more notes! Write to me<br />
directly or use CCT’s easy online<br />
form: college.columbia.edu/cct/<br />
submit_class_note.<br />
For now, I leave you with this:<br />
“Dwell in Possibility.”<br />
—Emily Dickinson<br />
REUNION MAY 31–JUNE 3<br />
ALUMNI OFFICE CONTACTS<br />
ALUMNI AFFAIRS Patricia Carchi<br />
pc2389@columbia.edu<br />
212-851-7807<br />
DEVELOPMENT Harrison Kobb<br />
kh2468@columbia.edu<br />
212-851-7444<br />
97<br />
Sarah Katz<br />
1935 Parrish St.<br />
Philadelphia, PA 19130<br />
srk12@columbia.edu<br />
Plans are under way for our class’<br />
15th Alumni Reunion Weekend,<br />
Thursday, May 31–Sunday, June 3.<br />
Take a look at the reunion website<br />
(reunion.college.columbia.edu)<br />
and mark your calendars now.<br />
More information will start to<br />
arrive during the spring, so be sure<br />
<strong>Columbia</strong> has your correct postal<br />
and email addresses. Hope to see<br />
many of you there!<br />
Congratulations to Alex Grossman,<br />
who was recently named<br />
creative director at Bon Appetit!<br />
Also, congratulations to Naveena<br />
Ponnusamy, who has been named<br />
executive director of development<br />
at RAND Corp.<br />
Jeanette Brown is writing about<br />
early childhood education for<br />
Delaware Valley Association for the<br />
Education of Young Children. Her
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