Class Notes: Spring 2021

1960s

Bruce Hendry, ’64 BSB, reports that he is enjoying his 50th year of weekly pickup broomball. Players get together in Bloomington for Saturday and Sunday games whenever the weather allows—and sometimes when it doesn’t! Over the years Bruce has been joined by fellow Carlson School alumni, local friends, and occasionally Minnesota Hockey great Steve Christoff CLA ’85.

1970s

Since retiring from the US Navy, W. Mike Newell, ’75 BSB, serves as a committee chair on the Secretary of the Navy’s Navy and Marine Corps Retiree Council. He is also a member of the board at the US Navy Memorial in Washington, DC, and is leading efforts to present the crew of USS Minneapolis-Saint Paul (LCS-21) a replica of the Memorial’s iconic Lone Sailor statue at the ship’s commissioning in May in Duluth.

Thomas Schlick, ’77 MBA, published his first business book: Jumpstart Your Service Revolution: Transform Your Company’s DNA and Thrive in an Age of Disruption.

1980s

In 2020, Vanessa Tennyson, ’81 BSB, was named one of the “50 over 50” by AARP Minnesota and Pollen Midwest. Congratulations, Vanessa!

Stellantis, the company created by the merger of Fiat Chrysler and Peugeot, announced Wan Ling Martello, ’83 MBA, as a member of its Board of Directors.

Dan Ulland, ’83 BSB, is now the employee relations director at Austin Utilities.

Beck Haapanen, ’84 BSB, started a new position as senior business analyst at SunStream Business Services.

Karen VanDerBosch, ’85 BSB, of Ergodyne, was awarded with a 2020 CFO of the Year Award from Minneapolis / St. Paul Business Journal.

Todd Williams, ’86 BSB, was promoted to president of Fidelity Bank, following a 30-year career with the Edina–based commercial bank.

Daniel Zaczkowski, ’87 MBA, of TruStone Financial Federal Credit Union was awarded with a 2020 CFO of the Year Award from Minneapolis / St. Paul Business Journal.

After six months of serving as interim CEO, Pamela Axberg, ’89 MBA, was recently appointed the CEO of The Union Gospel Mission Twin Cities.

Louis Berezovsky, ’89 BSB, chief financial and administrative officer of Eagle Infrastructure Services, has been re-elected as finance chair of the Better Business Bureau of Minnesota & North Dakota’s Board of Directors.

John Mack, ’89 BSB, was named president of cardiac surgery at Medtronic. John has been with the company for more than 24 years.

1990s

Robert Doty, ’90 BSB, ’10 MBA, was appointed commissioner of the Minnesota Department of Revenue by Governor Tim Walz.

Bill Fenske, ’91 MBA, of Conway, Deuth & Schmiesing’s Paycheck Protection Program team, recently completed the certification process with the National Association of Certified Valuators and Analysts.

Brenda McCormick, ’91 MBA, of Children’s Minnesota was awarded with a 2020 CFO of the Year Award from Minneapolis / St. Paul Business Journal.

Congratulations Mike Thyken, ’91 MBA, for being honored in 2020 with a CIO of the Year ORBIE Award. Mike is the chief technology officer at CaringBridge.

Chris Koch, ’92 MBA, was honored with a 2020 Executive of the Year Award from Arizona State University’s W.P Carey School of Business. Chris is chairman, president, and CEO of Carlisle Companies.

Twin Cities Business named Julie Gilbert, ’93 BSB, ’99 MBA, senior digital advisor at McKinsey, as a 2021 Minnesotan to Know.

Jerrod Shermoen, ’93 BSB, was appointed by Governor Tim Walz as a District Court Judge in Minnesota’s Ninth Judicial District.

Michelle Champlin Bergner, ’94 MBA, recently became the director of the Institute for Research in Marketing at the Carlson School of Management. She is also an adjunct faculty member in the Marketing department at the Carlson School, teaching the undergraduate capstone course in Marketing Strategy.

James Claussen, ’94 MBA, is now executive vice president and chief financial officer of Ryerson.

Chris Johnson, ’94 MBA, started a new position as chief operating officer of Zenith American Solutions.

Congratulations Steve Benson, ’95 MBA, for starting a new position as chief financial officer at Ovative Group.

H.B. Fuller recently named Michael Happe, ’96 MBA, of Winnebago Industries to their Board of Directors.

Congratulations Bill Haydon, ’96 MBA, for starting a new position as senior vice president and general manager at Avanos Medical, Inc.

Father Jonathan Kelly, ’96 BSB, has been appointed the ninth rector of the Saint John Vianney College Seminary.

Kristin Stamman, ’96 MBA, vice president of Twin Cities Siding Professionals, was elected to the Better Business Bureau of Minnesota and North Dakota Foundation Board.

Greg Wagner, ’96 MBA, started a new position at Anterix as technical product marketing manager.

C. Hunter Westbrook, ’96 MBA, was appointed the president and chief operating officer at HomeTrust Bank. He has been with the company since 2012.

Joy Pearson, ’97 BSB, was elected to the Farmington City Council.

Shawn McCormick, ’98 MBA, has joined Aldevron as chief financial officer.

Troy Barrow, ’99 MBA, is now the president of renewal by Andersen. Troy has been with the company since 2010.

Congratulations Jason Grosz, ’99 BSB, ’06 MHRIR, for starting a new role at Ecolab as vice president of human resources—Global Talent Contingent Workforce Solutions. Jason has been with the company since 2006.

Dan Jedda, ’99 MBA, started a new position as CFO at Stitch Fix.

Keith Klein, ’99 MBA, is now the Board Chair of Fraser, a Minnesota nonprofit that provides autism and early childhood mental health services. Keith has been on the board since 2017 and is also the founder of KKlein Ventures, LLC, which provides advisory services to businesses and nonprofits.

Angela Maurer-Green, ’99 BSB, started a new position as an executive recruiter for executive search firm, The Morisey-Dart Group.

2000s

Congratulations Julius Chepey, ’00 MBA, for being honored with a 2020 CIO of the Year ORBIE Award. Julius is the chief information officer at APi Group Inc.

Congratulations Marc Detampel, ’00 MHRIR, for starting a new position as managing director of Comhar Partners.

Mike Duggan, ’00 MBA, is now CEO of O’Shaughnessy Distilling Co., a new Minneapolis–based distillery.

Brian Slipka, ’00 BSB, launched a new venture capital finance company, Honour Capital.

Sanjay Kuba, ’01 MBA, started a new position as global account manager at NetApp.

Brooke Zinter, ’01 BSB, was promoted to General Counsel at Revel + NovuHealth. Brooke has been with the company since 2017.

Zach McGillis, ’02 BSB, ’09 MBA, started a new position as vice president of account management at EXL.

Shelley Nolden, ’02 BSB, has written a book. Her historical fiction thriller The Vines is set on New York City’s abandoned North Brother Island and in the ruins of its shuttered hospital. The tale is inspired by Nolden’s own story of surviving cancer and the horrific history of North Brother Island.

Silk Road Medical, Inc. recently named Kevin Ballinger, ’03 MBA, to their Board of Directors.

Congratulations Chad Roberg, ’03 BSB, for starting a new position as vice president of employee benefits at Christensen Group.

Janel Wittmayer, ’03 MBA, president at CPC, was named a Minnesota Manufacturing Awards Emerging Leader by the Minneapolis / St. Paul Business Journal. Congratulations, Janel!

Annie Young-Scriver, ’03 MBA, is now the CEO of Wella Company, home to brands Wella Professionals, Clairol, OPI, Nioxin, weDo/ Professional, ghd, and more. Previously, Annie was the CEO of Godiva.

Associate portfolio manager at Nuveen, Jake Fitzpatrick, ’04 BSB, was added as a portfolio manager for several funds.

Dave Huml, ’04 MBA, will be promoted to CEO of Tennant as of March 2021. Huml has been with the company since 2014.

Jared Oasheim, ’04 BSB, was promoted to chief financial officer at CVRx. Jared has been with the company since 2015.

Wade Sorenson, ’04 MBA, started a new position at Cigna as a principal architect.

Ahmet Hepdogan, ’05 MBA, recently joined the Young Center for Immigrant Children’s Rights Board of Directors.

Global Corporate Venturing named Ben Wright, ’05 MBA, on their 2020 Powerlist. Ben is the managing director at 3M Ventures.

Congratulations Ryan Arnholt, ’06 MBA, for starting a new position as director of sales and marketing at Dojo Five.

Congratulations Sean Larson, ’06 MBA, for starting a new position as senior director healthcare strategy at LexisNexis Risk Solutions.

Eric Pasi, ’06 BSB, chief development officer at Impact Power Solutions (IPS), recently released his first book, Clean Wave: A Guide to Success in the Green Recovery.

Congratulations Brad Pogalz, ’06 MBA, for starting a new position as finance director of Europe, Middle East and Africa at Donaldson.

Congratulations Kurt Svendsen, ’06 MBA, for being honored with a 2020 CIO of the Year ORBIE Award. Kurt is the vice president, information services at Toro.

Congratulations Paul Bednarczyk, ’07 MBA, for starting a new position as operations manager at Shine Wealth.

Pipeline Therapeutics appointed Lori Lyons-Williams, ’07 MBA, to the company’s Board of Directors.

Burton Metz, ’07 BSB, was recently promoted to president of investments and acquisitions at Wangard Partners Inc. in Milwaukee. He has been with the company for 10 years.

Congratulations Matthew Branson, ’08 MBA, for starting a new role at Ecolab as vice president and general manager facilities, Institutional NA. Matthew has been with the company for more than 12 years.

Congratulations Maggie Manteuffel, ’08 BSB, ’13 MBA, for starting a new position at Arbré Technologies, Inc.

Congratulations Shashanka Muppaneni, ’08 BSB, for starting a new position as vice president, corporate development at Seer.

Selemon Asfaw, ’09 BSB, was promoted to chief financial officer for OptumHealth Care Solutions and Health Services in addition to joining the Holmes Center for Entrepreneurship Advisory Board.

Anil Asrani, ’09 MBA, is now the president and CEO of TearSolutions, a biotechnology company focused on developing a treatment for dry eye disease.

Jenny (Hulke) Wollan, ’09 BSB, was promoted to principal product marketing manager—Fire TV Edition, North America at Amazon. Jenny has been with the company since 2012.

Ryan Kromminga, ’09 BSB, ’14 MBA, was promoted to director of finance at UnitedHealth Group. Ryan has been with the company since 2018 and previously from 2011-2014.

The Washington Business Journal named Michael Ramlet, ’09 BSB, to their 40 Under 40 list for 2020.

2010s

Brad Bogard, ’10 BSB, started a new position as director of clinical partnerships at gWell, a musculoskeletal genomics company based in Boston.

Josh Edgar, ’10 BSB, ’17 MBA, was promoted to senior consultant at Slalom. Josh has been with the company since 2016.

Edric Funk, ’10 MBA, was promoted to general manager of Sitework Systems Business at Toro. Edric has been with the company for more than 24 years.

David Mitchell, ’10 MBA, was promoted to chief operating officer at MackayMitchell Envelope Company. David has been with the company since 2018 and was most recently their vice president of sales and marketing.

3D Systems recently named Vasant Padmanabhan, ’10 MBA, to their Board of Directors.

Monzur Morshed Patwary, ’10 BSB, is the senior manager for the Health Nutrition and Population Programme at BRAC, the largest network of community health workers in Bangladesh.

Congratulations Devin Scott, ’10 BSB, ’11 MAcc, for starting a new position as vice president of internal audit and business risk management at Otter Tail Corporation. Devin has been with the company since 2019.

Thompson Aderinkomi, ’11 MBA, participated as a panelist for an event as part of Twin Cities Startup Week about mistakes he made and lessons learned while building his business, Nice Healthcare.

Congratulations Eric Evanson, ’11 BSB, for being promoted to senior consultant at Dougherty Business Solutions. Eric has been with the company since 2019.

Congratulations Keegan Leonard, ’11 BSB, for being promoted to senior manager at Malloy, Montague, Karnowski, Radosevich & Co., P.A. (MMKR). Keegan has been with the firm since 2017.

Dustin May, ’11 MBA, started a new position as project executive at Xede Consulting Group.

Congratulations Prachi Mishra, ’11 BSB, for starting a new position as senior product marketing manager at DocuSign.

Asha Sharma, ’11 BSB, was named the new chief operating officer for Instacart. Prior to this role, she was a vice president of product at Facebook, and earlier, COO of Porch.com.

Kate Vann, ’11 MBA, started a new position as vice president of strategic initiatives at Studentreasures Publishing.

Jackie (Hess) Gamboni, ’12 BSB, graduated Magna Cum Laude with an MBA from the Carlson School.

Noah Gilbertson, ’12 BSB, started a new position at Medallia as a senior solutions consultant.

Amit Kachru, ’12 MBA, is vice president of finance, global supply management at Medtronic. Amit has been with the company since 2005.

Carlye Kosiak, ’12 BSB, was promoted to global product lead at Google. Carlye has been with the organization since 2018.

Congratulations Clare Simonis, ’12 BSB, for starting a new position as senior director, Strategy and Growth at The MENTOR Network.

Congratulations to Phillip Tso, ’12 BSB, and Becky (Gagne) Tso, ’12 BSB, ’17 MHRIR! They are expecting their first baby in 2021.

Congratulations Nick Turgeon, ’12 BSB, for being promoted to director at Castlelake.

Katie (Vogel) Twelves, ’12 BSB, recently started a new position as director, field change and implementation at Ameriprise Financial. Katie has been with Ameriprise since 2012.

Congratulate Carolyn Watkins, ’12 BSB, ’18 MBA, for being promoted to product manager lead, IoT at Graco. Carolyn has been with the company since 2018.

Congratulations Grant Ecker, ’13 MBA, for starting a new position at Walgreens Boots Alliance as the vice president of global architecture.

Congratulations Blake Holman, ’13 MBA, for starting a new position as business unit director—nutrition snacks at General Mills. Blake has been with the company since 2013.

Congratulations Hannah Ficks, ’14 BSB, for starting a new position as assistant business manager at Cargill. Hannah has been with the company full-time since 2014.

Douglas S. King, ’14 MBA, president, CEO, and senior financial advisor at Oakwood Capital Advisors, LLC, is now the Board Chair of the Certified Financial Planner (CFP) Board of Standards.

Darya Antanovich, ’15 BSB, was promoted to manager at Capgemini. Darya has been with the organization since 2015.

Central Logic announced the appointment of Maija Costello, ’15 MBA, as vice president of people and culture.

Greg Gibas, ’15 BSB, was named to TipRanks Top 5 Wall Street Analysts for 2020. Greg is vice president and senior research analyst at Northland Securities.

Congratulations Bryan McCallum, ’15 MAcc, ’20 MBT, for starting a new position as controller at Whirltronics, Inc.

Gracie McKinstry-Smith, ’15 BSB, is currently a senior consumer insights analyst at Target, where she leads impactful research projects that play an essential role in championing the guest voice, helping enterprise leaders make guest-first business decisions. In 2020, she was recognized with two industry awards: Quirk’s Media recognized Gracie as Outstanding Young Researcher of the Year and the Advertising Federation of Minnesota awarded Gracie the Paul Foss Award.

Shawn Spence, ’15 MBA, ’17 MSBA, started a new position as segment marketing analytics lead at Cigna.

Congratulations Kristina Worm, ’15 BSB, for starting a new position as manager, associate product development at Sleep Number Corporation.

James Collins, ’16 BSB, started a new job as an associate at Snowhook Capital Management.

Congratulations Charlie Kleiner, ’16 BSB, for being promoted to manager, field and partner marketing at Branch.

Congratulations Kenny Ngo, ’16 BSB, for starting a new position as digital consultant at Inspire11.

Courtney Mecikalski, ’16 BSB, was promoted to consulting manager on the Enterprise Solutions and Services team at Baker Tilly US.

Shelby Banks, ’17 BSB, started a new position as associate trade marketing manager at Chervon North America.

Congratulations Katie Larson, ’17 BSB, for starting a new position as supply chain manager at online luxury fashion retailer Moda Operandi, Inc.

Natalie Stein, ’17 BSB, started a new position as senior insights manager at Edge by Ascential.

Nico Suarez, ’17 BSB, started a new position at HeyDay.

Masa Arafa, ’18 BSB, was promoted to associate—derivatives clearing and execution business management at JPMorgan Chase & Co. Masa has been with the company since 2018.

Samantha (Morris) Silker, ’18 MBA, was promoted to program director of the University of Minnesota Center for Integrative Leadership.

Congratulations Craig Nelson, ’18 MBA, for being promoted to technical manager-incinerator waste liaison at 3M. Craig has been with the company since 2006.

Congratulations Hanna Okhrimchuk, ’18 BSB, for starting a new position as senior business consultant at BDO Centers LLC.

Congratulations Angela (Wittrock) Hermanson, ’18 MBA, for starting a new position as Business Development Manager at 3M. Angela has been with the company since 2018.

Lucas Bagno, ’19 BSB, started a new position as an investor at early stage venture capital fund Village Global.

Jake Fletcher, ’19 MBA, and his wife Michaela are proud to announce the birth of their daughter Greta in January 2020. Jake also started a new job as an alliance manager at Thomson Reuters in January 2021.

Will Peterson, ’19 MBA, and his wife welcomed their first child, Henry, to their family in October 2020.

James Pierce, ’19 MBA, was elected to the Edina City Council.

2020s

Katie McClarty, ’20 MBA, joined the Board of Directors of Twin Cities Rise!, a non-profit focused on transforming lives through personal empowerment, career training, and meaningful employment. Their vision is to create a community of empowered individuals, especially men of color, who achieve long-term job success to support their families.

In Memoriam

1940s

Arthur C. Ostlund, ’48 BSB, passed away in January 2021.

 

1950s

Warren Quarnstrom, ’50 BSB, passed away in August 2020.

John Bohan, ’53 BSB, passed away in December 2020.

Lou Yelich, ’54 BSB, passed away in August 2020. Lou was an Air Force Veteran who served in both WWII and the Korean War, an entrepreneur, and a talented businessman who owned a Houston–based dredging company, Hydro Pump & Equipment, which sold water pumps.

Dick Meyer, ’59 BSB, passed away in October 2020.

 

1960s

David B. Kollitz, ’64 BSB, passed away in December 2020.

Dean Dannewitz, ’66 BSB, passed away in September 2020.

 

1970s

John G. Adams, ’72 BSB, passed away in November 2020.

William G. Reed, Jr., ’75 BSB, passed away in August 2020.

 

1980s

Mark Holman, ’86 MBA, passed away in October 2020.

 

1990s

Jim Elmquist, ’94 MBA, passed away in October 2020.

 

Faculty

Professor Robert (Bob) Holloway, a retired Carlson School faculty member, passed away in July 2020. Professor Holloway was an academic leader in his fields, developing courses and textbooks for the study of international business and serving as president of the American Marketing Association. As a colleague and teacher, Professor Holloway was an incredible citizen of the Carlson School, working with young faculty members and emphasizing the importance and value of the School’s teaching mission. Professor Holloway and his wife, Lois, held monthly dinners for department faculty to help build relationships and bring colleagues closer together. On behalf of the Carlson School community, we remain grateful for Bob’s impact on the school and our students and express condolences to his family.