Club Update, Fall 2016

Posted On: 10/28/2016 2:31:00 PM

Dear Alumni and Friends:

As you may now be aware, in August, the Seattle Chicago Booth community tragically lost a great alumni and friend in Nick Waltner. Nick is survived by Silvia, his loving wife of 19 years, and their three children: Olivia, Alex and Maggie. Those of us who interacted with Nick know not only of his passion for Chicago Booth, but also his desire to help fellow Chicago Booth graduates personally and professionally.

Over the years, Nick built, and was the nexus of, the Seattle Chicago Booth community. When I moved to Seattle in 2014 for my current employer, my wife Danielle, Class of 2010, had to search for a new position. She reached out to Nick and he made it his personal mission to connect her with as many people as possible, helping aid her search. The last time I saw Nick was at the Lowe’s on Rainier; he had a giant smile on his face, his son Alex was in the car and an over-sized Christmas tree was tied atop his SUV; yet he still had time to chat. Nick knew everyone, was everywhere, and was always smiling. He is greatly missed. One can reach the family at 1726 Evergreen Place, Seattle, WA 98122.

To further the community that Nick helped build, the school asked a group of us to become the next generation of alumni leaders in Seattle. Chicago Booth alumni in Seattle are poised to become a major force in this region. The Chicago Booth community will continue to be a place for relaxed social activities, but also represent a tremendous source of thought leadership. There is a hunger in our community for connection and our shared Chicago Booth experience gives us a platform on which to build. Thanks to alumni such as yourselves, we have an opportunity to make a big difference in this city and have some fun along the way.

Over the summer, Tim State and LeeAnn Mutchler, both of Chicago Booth, dedicated tremendous time and energy to see that we capitalize on the aforementioned. The first step was seeking Alumni volunteers to help lead that effort. As a result, I would like to introduce your new Chicago Booth Seattle Alumni Board of

Directors:

Seth Acker, '08, Microsoft
Amy Fulford, '00, Enlight Advisors
Amit Mehta, '03, Eagle River, Inc
Kiran Narahari, '08, Egencia
Patrick Ringland, '09, Meridian Capital
Harsha Chandra Shekar, '13, Expedia
Mingwei Shen, '13, Amazon
Sergey Slepyan, '15, Amazon

We, as a team, have begun meeting and are excited to bring our community together over the following months and years through a diverse set of events and gatherings. Please keep a lookout for details on our Holiday get together in early December and a panel discussion planned for late February/early March. It is our sincere goal to bring you a rewarding set of programming and events in 2017.

As always, we would love to hear from you and appreciate those from whom we have already heard. Please do not hesitate to reach out to any of us directly with feedback or suggestions, or if you're interested in volunteering! You can email the team at booth_seattle@googlegroups.com.

The next upcoming event, Chicago Conversations, is on 11/2. To get a sense of how unique this event is: globally there are only six a year. The next topic is about Innovation – with a thought of exploring themes around how Seattle based firms have remained leaders in their sectors or transformed their industries through innovation. We expect to have 100+ alumni at this event! For more information or to register please visit the club website.

We look forward to getting to know all of you over the coming year and hope you will take advantage of the network that we are building. Thank you from all of us on the Seattle Chicago Booth Alumni team!

Respectfully submitted,
Sean Lobo, '09
President
Seattle Chicago Booth Alumni Club