class notes

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1990s

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1994

Victoria (Vicki) Tisch
vickitisch@yahoo.com

Wendy Prior Fentress reports that Brooke Gaffney Redmond and husband Patrick welcomed son Benjamin last winter and says he’s “strapping and handsome.” Wendy is busy with her two kids and hosting segments for Code TV in NYC.

Dan Caputi graduated from CUNY Law School in 2004 and is practicing law with his father on Long Island. They focus on land-use practice, but “dabble elsewhere as well.” Dan attended the Bandersnatchers’ 30th anniversary and saw lots of friends, including Paul Samford. “It was great fun, and I am already looking forward to the next one,” he says. They enjoyed walking around campus and having a meal at the Parting Glass. Dan still loves baseball and spends time at Shea Stadium during baseball season.

Jen Case Callahan and husband Pat welcomed son Andrew in January; big brother J.D. is adjusting well. Jen has been back to work since early March; she is an equity research analyst for Dowling & Partners, where she has worked since graduation. She has kept in touch with old roommates Amy Pollack Hall, Jennifer Lanfranco Hungerford, and Beth NeJaime Casavant. Jennifer had twins Lucas and Olivia in November.

Danielle Charney Dourmashkin and Jordan Dourmashkin are enjoying their new home in Yonkers, NY, with daughters Chloe, 3, and Leah, 1.

Fletcher Kent and wife Lindsey live in Arlington, MA, where Fletch is in OEM business development for Fast Search & Transfer, a Norwegian search software company. Lindsey is an international sales account executive for Monster Worldwide. The couple enjoys travel to Europe and Latin America in their spare time. Fletch sees Daeri DellaRipa regularly, as well as Kristen Palma and Kerri Tiep-Daniels Tabasky.

Alex Lackner moved to Pittsburgh in 2001 to attend Carnegie Mellon University and delve into development policy. He won a Coro Center for Civic Leadership Fellowship and served a year as a special assistant to the county’s chief executive. He then completed a master’s in public policy and management. After independent consulting on public-private partnership projects promoting sustainable business, he returned to county government as a business development specialist. Alex married Hilary Lewis on July 10, 2005. Chris Gregory, Erik Kuja ’93 and Mike Hauser ’93 represented Skidmore and Thoroughbred baseball at the wedding. Alex is renovating a 113-year-old house in an old section of Pittsburgh, doing most of the work himself. “I still occasionally drink from a Skidmore Environmental Action Club coffee mug,” he says, “and keep in touch with many Skidmore friends and baseball teammates.”

Travis Lea and wife Eva took a delayed honeymoon this winter, touring Thailand, the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, and Singapore. “It was a mind-blowing adventure with beauty and discovery around every corner,” he reports. “On the professional front, I DJ’d the largest beach party in the world in Koh Phan Gan in Thailand.”

After five years of teaching in the US and abroad, and a stint in the Peace Corps, Ian MacDonald is finishing an MFA in creative writing at the University of Arizona. In the fall, he will begin a doctoral track at Columbia University in postcolonial literature and theory. Ian has kept in contact with Jeffrey Bialy. “Otherwise,” he says, “you know: single, broke, all the good stuff.”

Justin O’Leary has been living on NYC’s Upper West Side for five years. For the past four he has worked with a real-estate development group in Greenwich, CT. He manages the construction and development of single-family spec homes in Greenwich, but also develops and invests in other multifamily and commercial property throughout New England.

Connie Oberle and husband Dan Geoghan welcomed daughter Anna in December. Anna gets along well with two canine and two feline “siblings.” The family is living on Manhattan’s Upper West Side, where Connie has, “for the moment, retired from practicing law in order to focus on mommyhood.”

Heather Short completed her PhD in structural geology from the University of Maine in May. She moved to Montreal two years ago and is teaching in McGill University’s department of earth and planetary sciences.

Curt Solomon ’95 and Julie Bunce Solomon welcomed son Evan to their family in December.

Karen Tobey Straessle and husband Danny were delighted with the arrival of daughter Savannah in February. Brother John, 2, is very excited and often “shows it by kissing his sister on the head.”

Nick Zagoreos has been living in London since 1997. He is married to Rosemary Twohill and is the proud father of son Alexander, born in March.

Meredith Eastman works for Campus Bound, a for-profit that provides comprehensive college admissions and financial aid consulting to students and parents. The move was “a natural progression” for Meredith, who has a background in admissions at Skidmore and was a high-school guidance counselor. “I was frustrated with how little time I had to help students navigate the ever-increasing challenges of the college admissions process,” she says. Campus Bound has garnered good reviews in the Boston press.

Rick Salvatoriello and wife Jennifer celebrated their son’s first birthday in May. They recently visited Dan Schwenk and his wife, Sophie, on Cape Cod.

Frits Abel is the new managing director for Progress Partners LLC, a Boston-based investment bank founded by Nick MacShane ’91 that works with the owners and management of emerging growth companies. Frits has over 12 years of experience in marketing, development, and operations for start-up ventures. He’s also spearheaded the establishment of the Skidmore Business Network, a dynamic networking group for alumni in business, finance, marketing, and related fields. Founded in NYC, SBN has expanded to chapters in San Francisco and Boston. For more information, see www.skidbiz.com.

Holter Graham and Neela Vaswani ’96 still live in NYC. Holter spent last year touring film festivals with his short film The Diversion (also starring Kelly VanZile ’96), among other pursuits. Neela continues to teach master’s students in creative writing.

Chanel Greene was promoted to director of financial aid at DeSales University. She is in her second semester of graduate school, pursuing a PhD in administration and leadership studies at Indiana University of Pennsylvania’s Harrisburg campus.

Mark Bates is a partner at Main Street Resources, a private equity firm of entrepreneurs, executives, and investors who provide investment capital and resources to companies and individuals with great potential. Mark, who earned an MBA from the Wharton School, was previously head of financial media at Legg Mason. He was the featured speaker at a July networking session of the Skidmore Business Network in NYC (see www.skidbiz.com).

Alex Ciganer wrote this tribute to Schoeni Wolfe, who died suddenly last August. “Her successes were numerous…but it was her kindness, loyalty, and wonderfully absurd sense of humor, accompanied by the best smile and infectious laugh, which I remember 10 years later as her most indelible attributes. Schoeni was truly a beautiful person.” Schoeni’s husband, Britton Upham, recounts that “she had a way of making people feel very special, and that was truly her gift.” Schoeni will be dearly missed and remembered for her boundless creativity, compassion, and generosity.