Alumni Connections - No. 102 - January 2013

Acxiom Corp.: Dana Hayes Jr., ’96, has been named group vice president of partner development. Based in Little Rock, Arkansas, the company offers technology and marketing services.

AGF Investments Inc.: Maksim Piskunov, ’12, has joined as global equity analyst. The asset management firm is headquartered in Toronto.

BTU International Inc.: Peter Tallian, ’82, has been appointed to the newly created position of chief operating officer. The company supplies advanced thermal processing equipment to the electronics manufacturing company and alternative energy markets. It is headquartered in North Billerica, Massachusetts.

Canada Pension Plan Investment Board: Karen Sheriff, ’84, has been named a member of the board by the Canadian federal government. Sheriff is president and CEO of Bell Alliant, a Canadian internet, television, and phone service company. The Toronto-based pension plan oversees funds supplied by 18 million Canadian contributors and beneficiaries.

Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin: Tricia Geraghty, ’01, has been named corporate vice president for marketing and public relations. The hospital has locations in Milwaukee and Neenah, Wisconsin.

Columbia St. Mary’s: Allan Spooner, ’94, has been appointed president of Columbia St. Mary’s hospital division, including Columbia St. Mary’s Hospital Milwaukee, Columbia St. Mary’s Hospital Ozaukee, Sacred Heart Rehabilitation Institute, and Columbia St. Mary’s Women’s Hospital.

Eaton Vance Management: Eric Stein, ’07, has been appointed codirector of the global income group. The Boston-based investment management company is a subsidiary of Eaton Vance Corp.

Fathom: Jeff Herrmann, ’04, has been named chief revenue officer. The digital marketing and analytics firm is headquartered in Valley View, Ohio.

General RE-New England Asset Management Inc.: Christopher Myers, ’03, has joined as head of enterprise risk management. The investment advisor offers capital and investment management services primarily to the insurance industry. It is based in Farmington, Connecticut.

Goldman Sachs Group Inc.: Joseph Braik, ’06, and Sameer Ralhan, ’04, have been promoted to managing directors at the New York–headquartered financial services firm.

John Buck Co.: John Buck, ’02 (XP-71), is branching off from John Buck Co., a real estate development firm, to start an affiliated company.

Kforce Inc.: David Kelly, ’93, has been promoted to CFO from senior vice president of finance and accounting and corporate assistant secretary. The Tampa, Florida–based staffing company provides flexible or permanent employees in technology, finance, accounting, and health information management.

Mars & Co.: Calin Crisan, ’06, has been promoted to project manager from senior consultant. Headquartered in Greenwich, Connecticut, the management consulting company specializes in business strategy and operational improvements for large corporations. Crisan has worked on a broad range of complex problems for global clients including in the consumer packaged goods, industrial products, and retailing industries.

Mirabaud Asset Management: Andrew Lake, ’04 (EXP-9), has joined as global high yield manager. The firm is the asset management arm of Geneva-based private bank, Mirabaud & Cie.

Monroe Capital LLC: Aaron Peck, ’98, has joined as managing director. He also is CFO, chief investment officer, and chief compliance officer for the firm’s new publicly traded company, Monroe Capital Corp., which recently undertook its initial public offering.

Orbitz Worldwide Inc.: Mitchell Marcus, ’96, has been appointed CFO of the Chicago-based online travel company.

Portfolio Recovery Associates Inc.: Steven Roberts, ’90, has been named president, business and government services. The Norfolk, Virginia–based company purchases consumer debt and offers collection services and other business services to local governments, auto lenders, law enforcement, institutional investors, manufacturers, retailers, and UK banks and creditors.

Printing.com PLC: Pavel Begun, ’03, has been appointed a member of the board of directors. The print company is headquartered in Manchester, England. Begun is managing partner of 3G Capital Management LLC, which has offices in Toronto and Chicago.

Ramius LLC: David Richard Dowdle, ’96, will help manage funds under the name Orchard Square Partners in partnership with global investment business Ramius. Since joining the New York–based Ramius in September 2008, Dowdle has served as managing director and co-portfolio manager in the credit trading group.

Telstra Global: Timothy Chen, ’91 (XP-60), has been named president and group managing director of Telstra International Group. Telstra is one of the leading telecommunication companies in the Asia-Pacific region. Telstra Global is a division of Telstra Corporation Ltd., headquartered in Melbourne, Australia.

Valence Health: Eric Mollman, ’85, has joined as CFO. Based in Chicago, the company offers to hospitals and other health-care organizations such services as data collection, consulting, clinical integration, medical claim payment, and analytics.

WAN-IFRA: Thomas Jacob, ’04 (AXP-3), has been promoted to the new position of chief operating officer from deputy CEO. The world association of newspapers and new publishers has headquarters in Darmstadt, Germany, and Paris; with subsidiaries elsewhere in Paris and in Singapore, India, Spain, and Sweden.

Z Capital Partners LLC: Rahul Sawhney, ’10, has been promoted to senior managing director and partner from senior managing director and member of the investment team. Headquartered in Lake Forest, Illinois, the private equity firm focuses on revitalizing businesses.

Zimmer Custom-Made Packaging: Colleen Bohn, ’01 (XP-70), has been named interim president. She was a member of the board of directors. The flexible packaging supplier is based in Indianapolis.

Simona Citron, '91, has helped to launch Hope's Closet, a company that makes clothes for girls with scoliosis. The online store sells "fashionable yet practical apparel designed to fit under a brace," said an October 11 article in the Buffalo Grove, Illinois Patch. Citron, who also serves on the board of directors of the Illinois Holocaust Museum and Education Center, is CFO and director of marketing and social media for Hope's Closet. "This is a natural fit for me," Citron said in the article. "I couldn't be more proud of the work we're doing."

Dallas Business Journal named Thomas Greenlee, '00, a 2012 CFO of the Year representing large private companies. Greenlee, who works for Glazer's Inc., a Dallas-based alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverage distributor, talked about the biggest challenge he faced this year. "After I started at Glazer's, we had to make substantial changes to the company, both in personnel and systems," Greenlee said in an October 26 article in the Dallas Business Journal. "Keeping the organization highly motivated, while making changes in a 100-year-old company, can be very challenging. We have been able to keep our talented people by successfully communicating our strategy and each person's importance in driving our overall success."

Named after an Indian city, Singapore-based Benares is a new brand of home and fashion products created by Shabri Malik, '10, and her sister. "Benares is a lifestyle brand, based on a modern interpretation of classic Indian design," Malik told the Jakarta Globe in a November 9 article. "The design ethos was inspired by India's rich design heritage and vibrant palette of colors, fabrics and motifs. We work in collaboration with a collective of established and emerging designers and traditional artisans. Benares stands for contemporary Indian design. We produce limited edition collections in home decor, apparel, and accessories. Inspired by our passion for authentic design, each product is carefully curated and, more often than not, crafted by hand. Our vision is to provide a complete lifestyle concept that celebrates contemporary Indian design and puts it on the international stage."

Bradley Peterson, '02, has been named one of the 2012 US Innovative Lawyers by the Financial Times. Peterson, partner at Mayer Brown, worked on the Cemex-IBM outsourcing agreement, scrutinizing the potential deal for value in long-term relationships, the newspaper said. "Clients want to pay for value," Peterson said in the article. "We're no longer able to just say what we do is essential. We have to articulate the value of what we do." Financial Times said the "ramifications of this economic evaluation of legal clauses for commercial contracts could be game-changing."

The Nanny App is like a "real-life Mary Poppins in the palm of your hands," said app cofounder Rachel Provest, '12 (AXP-11), in a November 21 "Inc. Well" blog for NBC Chicago. "We started with what's effectively a reference guide for expecting mothers and new parents," Provest said. She said the guide has been written by a nanny who graduated from Norland College, a prestigious nanny school in the UK, where her cofounder also lives. Provest, meanwhile, lives and works in Vietnam. She and her cofounder rely on technology to communicate, she said.

Daniel Kelly, '90
CEO
Tellabs Inc.
Kelly had been acting president and CEO of the Naperville, Illinois–based telecom equipment maker. The appointment to the top spot was made November 29.

Janice Van Ekeren, ’90, 
CEO
Bank of Ayudhya Public Company Ltd.
Van Ekeren has been appointed CEO. The bank is one of Thailand’s largest. *Editor's Note: Alumni Connections originally reported that Van Ekeren had been promoted to CFO. She had served as CFO and Executive Director since January 2007. 

Catherine Wolfe, '96
President and CEO, Medical Research
Wolters Kluwer Health
The company publishes medical, clinical, and nursing journals as well as online information. It is headquartered in Alphen aan den Rijn, the Netherlands.

Daniel Caruso, '90
President and CEO
Zayo Group
Denver Business Journal named Caruso as a finalist for the Power Book award, given in recognition of Colorado's top CEOs in 14 industry categories. Caruso was named in the technology and telecommunications category. Four acquisitions in 2012 contributed to Louisville, Colorado–based bandwidth infrastructure company Zayo Group's growth to nearly $1 billion in revenue said an October 18 Marketwire article. "In 2007, we had the idea of acquiring fiber-based telecom companies and transforming them into a bandwidth infrastructure platform," Caruso said in the article. "Through the skill and hard work of our Zayo team, Zayo became a leading bandwidth provider in the US and Europe."

Robert Mariano, '87 (XP-56)
Chairman and CEO
Roundy's Supermarkets
Grocery store chain Mariano's keeps expanding, opening its eighth Chicago-area store, said a November 28 Chicago Sun-Times article. The chain offers organic produce and meat cutters, among other features. "We continue to refine the concept because customers talk to us about what they want," Mariano said. The Mariano's chain could potentially grow to 30 stores within the next five years, the article said.