Alumni Connections

No. 70 - May 2010

Alumni Connections is a sampling of alumni news gleaned from media online and in print, including news submitted to Chicago Booth Magazine. Submit information about yourself or fellow alumni to editor@ChicagoBooth.edu.

• Alumni on the Move
• Alumni to Know
• CEO Watch
• Alumni Connections Archive
• Chicago Booth Magazine

Alumni on the Move

AlarmForce Industries Inc.
Pavel Begun, ’03, has joined the board of directors. Based in Toronto, the company provides security and personal emergency response monitoring and related services to residential and commercial subscribers in Canada and the United States. Begun is a managing partner of 3G Capital Management LLC.

Affymetrix, Inc.
Timothy Barabe, ’77, has been appointed CFO and executive vice president. Based in Santa Clara, California, the company develops gene technologies.

Aon Consulting
Jennifer Daniels, ’92, has joined as vice president of marketing. The Chicago-based consulting firm works with organizations on employee benefits, talent management, and rewards strategies.

Automobile Club of Michigan (AAA Michigan)
Charles Allen, ’72, has been re-elected to a three-year term on the board of directors. Based in Dearborn, Michigan, the club offers travel, insurance, and financial services. Allen is chairman, president, CEO, and cofounder of Graimark Realty Advisors.

Buccino & Associates, Inc.
Thomas McCabe, ’92, has joined the firm’s Chicago office. The strategic and financial consulting firm also has an office in New York.

The Carlyle Group
Michael Petrick, ’87, has been named managing director and global head of credit alternatives and capital markets, a new position. He will lead the firm’s distressed, leveraged finance, and mezzanine teams of the New York–based global private equity firm.

Certified Business Brokers
John Fischer, ’02, has joined as M&A advisor and business broker. The firm is based in Houston.

CSM
Christopher Sulla, ’93 (XP-62), has been promoted to vice president, information technology for bakery supplies, North America and Asia Pacific. Headquartered in Diemen, the Netherlands, the company is the world’s largest supplier of bakery products and a leading player in natural food preservation and green chemicals.

DaVita Inc.
Luis Borgen, ’09 (XP-78), has been named CFO. Headquartered in Denver, the company provides dialysis services and education for patients with chronic kidney failure and end-stage renal disease.

Eaton Corporation
Anoop Nanda, ’04, has been promoted to general manager, heading the Southeast Asia, India, and Japan business for the company’s electrical sector. Nanda had been director of integration. He will work out of Singapore. The diversified industrial manufacturer is headquartered in Cleveland.

Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond
Christopher Cook, ’02, has been promoted to assistant vice president, banking supervision and regulation, in the Charlotte office. He joined the Charlotte office as a large credit banking organization (LCBO) credit/market risk-modeling specialist in 2004.

Hirtle, Callaghan & Co.
Jamie Johnson, ’83, has been named director of private equity. The privately held investment firm is based in West Conshohocken, Pennsylvania.

Houlihan Lokey
Christopher Cerimele, ’99, has joined as a director and head of the chemicals practice in the industrials group. The international investment bank is headquartered in Chicago.

Junior Achievement of Chicago:
Luis Sierra, ’90, has been named to the board of directors. The organization aims to inspire and prepare young people to succeed in a global economy. Sierra is CFO of the BP refinery in Whiting, Indiana.

Navigant Consulting, Inc.
Cathy Niden, AB ’81, MBA ’84, PhD ’88, has joined as a managing director of the global consulting firm, which is headquartered in Chicago.

Newtonian Capital Management: Kie-Yul Nam, ’88, has joined as managing director. Based in Hong Kong, the fund company specializes in real estate investment and development in China. 

Northwest Indiana Regional Development Authority
Kathy Brown, ’92, has been named implementation coordinator for shoreline redevelopment. In addition to shoreline work, the Crown Point–based authority works to expand the Gary/Chicago Airport, extend South Shore commuter service, and assist in other types of economic development efforts.

Options Clearing Corporation
John S. Willian, ’89, has joined the board of directors. The Chicago-based company operates as a utility clearinghouse and is owned by several of its participant exchanges. Willian is global co-head of prime brokerage, clearing, electronic trading, and futures at Goldman Sachs.

Ormat Technologies, Inc.
David Wagener, ’80, has been appointed independent member of the board of directors. Based in Reno, Nevada, the energy company develops geothermal power, recovered energy generation, and remote power. Wagener is managing partner of Wagener Capital Management.

PepsiCo
Hugh Johnston, ’87, has been promoted to CFO from executive vice president of global operations. The beverage giant is headquartered in Purchase, New York.

ShoreBank
David Vitale, ’76, has been named executive chairman of the community bank, which is based in Chicago.

Society of Illinois Construction Attorneys:
Bruce Schoumacher, MBA ’63, JD ’66, has been named president of the steering committee. The Chicago-based association is made up of attorneys who regularly represent clients in the construction industry. Schoumacher is shareholder and co-chair of the construction practice group at Querry & Harrow, Ltd.

Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc.
Vasant Prabhu, ’83, has been promoted to vice chairman. He remains CFO. The company is headquartered in White Plains, New York.

Strategic Hotels & Resorts, Inc.
Diane Morefield, ’87, has been appointed executive vice president and CFO. The hotel company is based in Chicago.

Summer Street Capital Partners LLC
Barry Freeman, ’03, has joined as health care advisory partner. The private equity fund is based in Buffalo, New York.

TechBargains
Yung Trang, ’00, has been promoted to president from vice president and general manager. The online business offers shopping information for technology, computers, and electronics.

UJA-Federation of New York
Jerry Levin, ’68, has been nominated for board president of the organization, which runs communal planning and philanthropy in the New York Jewish community. Levin currently serves as chair.

USG Corporation
William Kelley Jr., ’04, has been elected vice president and controller. Based in Chicago, the company makes building products for construction markets.

UST Global
Peter Siderman, ’01 (EXP-6), has been appointed to the advisory board. The information technology company is based in Aliso Viejo, California. Siderman is former managing director of the Dominion Group.

Workability
Sarah Richardson, ’87, has been appointed a director. Based in Perth, Western Australia, the charitable organization supports people with disabilities and mental health problems. Richardson is founder and director of Sarah Richardson Consulting Pty Ltd.

Alumni to Know

Louis Conrad II, ’89, has been named a 2010 FIVE STAR Wealth Manager, according to the March 9 Lexington Minuteman, which cited the February issue of Boston magazine. “I am honored to be named a 2010 FIVE STAR Wealth manager as it is acknowledgement that the high level of advice and service I provide resonates with clients,” Conrad told the Minuteman. Conrad is founder and president of COMPASS Wealth Management, LLC. Of more than 14,600 wealth managers in the Boston area, less than 4 percent receive the honor bestowed by the magazine.

An incredible amount of innovation is on its way in the energy field, Bob Dickerman, ’80, predicted in a March 26 States News Service profile. “The internal combustion engine is very efficient, but we need to replace it,” he said. Without the requirement of gasoline, “the next 20 years will hold more innovation than the last 100.” Dickerman has been named chief operating officer of Marubeni TAQA Caribbean, a joint energy venture led by a Japanese trading firm and the government of Abu Dhabi. He has held a variety of positions over his 30-plus years in the energy industry.

Indian women are cracking the glass ceiling in the United States, according to a March 8 article in India’s Daily News & Analysis. One of those few top executives is Sheila Hooda, ’88, senior managing director and global head of strategy and development at TIAA-CREF. Hooda also serves on Booth’s Global Advisory Board. Hooda said she has learned how to get along in the executive world. “As Indians, we have the tough quant and analytical skills to do data-crunching,” she said. “But all the A-plus performing in the world goes unnoticed without soft skills. The U.S. puts an emphasis on soft skills, so it is important to be a strong team player and a good presenter.”

Helping to establish the advisory services firm Moelis & Co. proved to be a good career move for John Momtazee, MBA ’97, JD ’97. Momtazee and a group of colleagues, including the company namesake, started the firm to provide a broad range of advisory services to clients in connection with mergers, acquisitions, restructurings, and other corporate finance matters. Momtazee serves as managing director. “It was the best of times in early 2007, but this was a unique opportunity to be exclusively focused on our clients,” he said in a March 19 “Forty Under Forty” feature in Investment Dealers Digest. “What we’ve created here is something where there’s no bureaucracy or legacy balance sheet issues, and that’s what enables all of us to succeed. I think this has worked out as we hoped it would.” Based in Los Angeles, he frequently travels to New York, the article said. The firm also has offices in Boston, Chicago, London, and Sydney.

Jeff Peacock, ’99, has announced his candidacy as a Republican for an Alabama state senate seat. “Considering the economic challenges we face in southwest Alabama, we must have a state senator who understands economic development. As a small businessman, I know what it takes to get the economy moving,” he said in a March 10 article on NorthEscambia.com. Peacock said his economic development plans would feature tax incentives, entrepreneurship promotion, and education reform.

Jerry Rao, ’81, has written a book, Notes from an Indian Conservative. A panel discussion about Rao and his book was included in a March 12 article in India’s Daily News & Analysis. For the book, Rao, a former columnist, put together a sampling of his work at the Indian Express.

Money to rebuild Haiti will be wasted on corruption, a former presidential candidate fears. In a March 31 article in the Toronto Star, Dumarsais Simeus, ’72, suggested that the Haitian people want the United States, Canada, or an international body to manage the country. “No matter how much money is put in there, (the people) never see it,” he said. “It has never, never trickled down.” Simeus wrote to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon proposing that Haiti’s presidential and parliamentary elections be suspended for the next 20 years, with the country run instead by an international council with representatives from Haiti, the UN, Canada, Brazil, France, and the United States, the article said.

Edwin “Ned” Miller Wiley, ’74, managing director at Axel Springer Digital TV Guide GmbH, has written a book, and his company has won an award. The Impossible Advantage—Winning the Competitive Game by Changing the Rules is about business strategy. The honor, given at the CeBIT 2010 international electronics trade fair in Hannover, Germany, was for Innovations in the “On Demand” category. Awarded was the company’s new personalized television service called “watchmi.” The service brings television watchers personal channels based on their preferences and automatically records favorite programs. The service also suggests television programs to viewers. Available in Germany now, watchmi will be extended to the United States and other markets in 2010.

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CEO Watch: Taking the Lead

Jon Corzine, ’73
Chairman and CEO
MF Global Holdings Inc.
Corzine is the former Goldman Sachs Group Inc. chairman and former New Jersey governor. Based in New York, the company trades listed and over-the-counter products and commodities.

Eric Gleacher, ’67
Chairman and CEO
Broadpoint Gleacher Securities Group, Inc.
Gleacher was named chief executive in March. He had become chairman following Broadpoint’s June 2009 acquisition of Gleacher Partners.

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CEO Watch: Making Headlines

J. Patrick Doyle, ’88
CEO
Domino’s Pizza
Doyle’s first days on the job were spent in India and Saudi Arabia, according to a March 22 profile in USA Today. With 300 outlets in India, it is the fastest-growing market for the Ann Arbor, Michigan–based pizza chain.“In the next three to five years, our sales outside the U.S. will surpass our sales here,” Doyle told the newspaper. Growth in the United States market will come from taking a larger share of an existing market where mom-and-pop stores and small chains deliver half of all sales, the article said.

Luis Miranda, ’89
President and CEO
IDFC Private Equity
Lightning has struck three times for the Mumbai-based firm. It has been voted the Private Equity Firm of the Year in India 2009 by readers and subscribers of the Private Equity Online website. Votes came from more than 50 countries for these Private Equity International Awards. In addition, Infrastructure Investor magazine honored the firm twice, for Asian Infrastructure Fund Manager of the Year and for Asian Infrastructure Deal of the Year.

Joseph Neubauer, ’65
Chairman and CEO
ARAMARK
The Philadelphia-based company has won the distinction of being named one of the “world’s most ethical companies” by the Ethisphere Institute. The institute is a think tank dedicated to best practices in business ethics, corporate social responsibility, anticorruption, and sustainability. “This honor is a testament to the commitment and conduct of all our teams globally,” Neubauer said in a March 22 BusinessWire article. The company is one of the world’s largest food service providers and a leader in such managed services as building maintenance and housekeeping. It received many honors this past year. ARAMARK was ranked in the top spot in its industry on Fortune magazine’s list of “world’s most admired companies,” named among the country’s “best places to launch a career” by BusinessWeek magazine, and listed among the Global Outsourcing 100. It also was recognized as one of America’s largest private companies by both Forbes and Fortune magazines, the article said.

Paul Purcell, ’71
Chairman, President, and CEO
Robert W. Baird & Co.
Purcell said he took his rejection years ago by Stanford University as evidence that he had to work harder, according to a March 24 Wall Street Journal article about titans, moguls, and newsmakers who were rejected at college admission time. “I took it as a signal that, ‘Look, the world is really competitive, and I’ll just try harder next time,’” he said. Purcell went on to receive a Distinguished Alumni Award from Chicago Booth for successfully guiding his company through the recession.

Bassam Yammine, ’94
Co-CEO, Middle East
Credit Suisse
Yammine’s career path was described in a March 5 Financial Times article. The story also tells how the bank led the region’s investment banking league table in 2009, while “shrugging off the financial shockwaves emanating from Dubai.”

Submit information about yourself or fellow alumni to editor@chicagobooth.edu.

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