Archive for February, 2011

The Arizona Costume Institute of the Phoenix Art Museum is hosting a free lecture from Kandahar Treasure founder and President Rangina Hamidi.

The event is 7 p.m. March 23, 2011 in the Whiteman Auditorium.

Hamidi will speak on her mission of economically and socially empowering more than 450 Afgan women by helping them produce finely embroidered artisanal textiles, which are sold in markets throughout the world.

Hamidi returned to her native Afghanistan in 2003 to help Afghan women succeed and establish a place for themselves in their society through sustainable commerce, rather than charity.

She escaped Afghanistan in 1981, at the age of three, during the Soviet occupation, moving with her family first to Pakistan and then, in 1988, to the United States.  Hamidi earned a Bachelors degree in Religious Studies and Gender Studies from the University of Virginia, studied at Thunderbird School of Management and worked for the Institute for International Public Policy.

She was invited to speak at the Clinton Global Initiative Annual Meeting in 2010. Beyond Microfinance: The Next Stage of Economic Development.

Wednesday nights at Phoenix Art Museum are free and open to the public from 3 p.m. to 9 p.m.

It only happens once a year: A regular monthly T-bird gathering explodes into a larger event with the goal of uniting prospective students with the one group that can best discuss the Thunderbird experience — our valued alumni.

Alumni Chapters around the world will participate March 1, 2011, in Thunderbird’s sixth annual Super First Tuesday. The event is organized and promoted by the Thunderbird Recruiting Team and Alumni Relations to give participants the chance to gain firsthand insights from T-birds on what Thunderbird has to offer and how a Thunderbird education has led them to a wide variety of different careers and life experiences.

Last year, more than 85 chapters around the globe participated, and more than 2,500 alumni and prospective students had the opportunity to meet in cities worldwide. This year, Thunderbird recruiters are scheduled to attend events at 10 chapters, and nearly 60 chapters are hosting events, with more joining every day.

“Alumni are our best recruiters for the school, and through their own success stories they help to promote Thunderbird to the next generation of global leaders,” said Jay Bryant ’04, Assistant VP of Admissions and Recruitment.

Six years ago, the concept for Super First Tuesday was created by Director of Recruitment Tom Brennan ’05 along with Bryant.

Phoenix Alumni Chapter President Mike Cottrell ’07 has been steadily increasing his chapter’s attendance. He said the Phoenix chapter is in a unique position to promote the Thunderbird brand because it is the home base of the school. Cottrell and his team dedicate much time and effort to coordinate the many events the chapter holds.

“I cannot think of a better endorsement of a Thunderbird education for a potential T-bird than an evening spent with alumni from all different backgrounds and industries,” he said.

Alumni who attend any event are encouraged to bring anyone they think would make a great T-bird, Bryant said. He also recommends that alumni speak candidly about their careers after Thunderbird and what doors have been opened for them.

“Although there will most likely be sign-up sheets at the events, it is a good idea to put the prospective students in touch with the admissions office after the event as well,” he said.

Thunderbird’s Alumni Relations office follows up with all alumni who provide referrals and keeps them up-to-date on the applicants’ admissions process.

“It is indeed a perfect opportunity to give back to the school by simply enjoying time with friends,” Cottrell said.

Specific information can be found on your local chapter page on MTB, at http://www.thunderbird.edu/superfirsttuesday or on Thunderbird’s Facebook event page.

Please contact Andy Chen at andy.chen@thunderbird.edu or Katie Mayer at katie.mayer@thunderbird.edu if you would like to get involved with your chapter event.

Adventures in Thai-Burma refugee camp inspire book
By Thomas Rhoden ’09

I had heard the good news only days before our class graduation: There was an opportunity for me to return to Southeast Asia and work with refugee populations along the Thai-Burma border. This was in spring 2009 when the financial recession was at its nastiness and consequently not the best time to be a newly minted MBA looking for work.

I recount there being more than a few lackadaisical Thunderbirds at the graduation reception party that evening. That night I had felt myself lucky to have had found a gig that synced perfectly with my experiences before Thunderbird.

Living in a remote refugee camp does not normally register on an MBA’s list of optimal places to work after graduation. If not for a slightly bizarre desire on my own part to keep chasing one adventure after the next, I too might have found myself filed away into a more traditional post-MBA existence.

Surprisingly, I found our MBA tool chest of skills to be extremely useful when I arrived in the refugee camp. After learning about the sordid processes whereby people flee their homeland to subsist on the handouts of the international community in a barren, barbwire-enclosed refugee camp, I saw an opportunity to assist in a few areas.

Many of the Burmese who have to escape their country apply for resettlement in the west. In order to avoid having to live off the doll indefinitely when they come to a country like the United States, I set up workshops to help them become more employable.

This included everything from how to put together an American-styled resume, to how to prepare for an interview, to even how to shake hands. These courses proved popular in the main camp where I worked. Later I heard success stories of newly resettled refugees in the United States who had won interviews and employment after completing my classes. I felt this to be an awesomely rewarding experience.

Drawing on these and other experiences of being a Peace Corps volunteer and a graduate of Webster University Thailand, I have been able to author my first piece of literary fiction for publication entitled The Village. This has fit nicely with my previous books on the Thai and Burmese languages.

Most recently I have accepted an offer to pursue a Ph.D. at Northern Illinois University starting in the fall. Working closely with their federally funded Center for Southeast Asian Studies, I plan to do research that utilizes my past work in this region.

I am looking forward to seeing how my degree from Thunderbird will enrich my studies there as well!

Kent Hiland ’76 has been appointed President of Emerson Climate Technologies – Latin America. Hiland’s organization is responsible for supporting Emerson, Copeland and White-Rogers offerings in the region. Hiland has been with Emerson Climate Technologies for 27 years and has served as Vice President of Emerson Climate Technologies – Latin America since 1995. He is fluent in English, Spanish and Portuguese.

Michael Monahan ’80 has been appointed President of BCA Study Abroad, effective July 1, 2011. Monahan is currently the Director of the International Center in the Institute for Global Citizenship at Macalester College in Saint Paul Minnesota, a position he has held nearly 17 years. Prior to Macalester, Monahan served as an Assistant Director of the University of Iowa’s Office of International Education. He also worked in international higher education with the School for International Training both at its headquarters in Vermont and as Academic Director based at universities abroad in Denmark, Spain, Mexico and Ireland. Currently, Monahan is also serving as one of the guest editors for Frontiers: The Interdisciplinary Journal of Study Abroad, for an upcoming volume dedicated to the theme of “Study Abroad and the City.” He was an Associate Editor of this education abroad publication since its founding in 1994 and until 2007.

Michael Yonker ’82 has been appointed Chief Human Resources Officer for Marriott Vacation Club International. In his new role, Yonker is responsible for the division’s human resources strategies, programs and performance for more than 9,000 associates worldwide and will also serve on the division’s Executive Committee and Marriott’s Global Senior Human Resources Leadership Team. A 27-year Marriott veteran, Yonker began his career in 1983 at Lincolnshire Marriott Resort in Chicago, Ill. as an Assistant controller. He progressed to Director of Finance at the Richmond Marriott in Virginia and was soon after promoted to Director of Administrative Services. In 1992, Yonker served as the Market Director of Human Resources at the Chicago Marriott O’Hare and eventually took on the role of area director of human resources for the Mid-Central region for Marriott management Corporate Services. From 1998 to 2007, Yonker served as regional vice president of human resources for Marriott’s North America Lodging Midwest, Central and Canada regions.

Deborah Weymouth ’84 has been chosen as Senior Vice President of Operations and Executive Director of New Milford Hospital located in Connecticut. Weymouth has more than 20 years of broad leadership experience and comes to New Milford hospital from Thompson health in Canandaigua, New York, an over 400 bed, six-member non-profit corporation, where she served in various senior positions since 1995, most recently as Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of the hospital. Weymouth is a Fellow of the American College of healthcare Executives. In her new position, she will be responsible for overseeing the day-to-day operations at New Milford Hospital.

Randi Yoder ’85 has been named Senior Vice President for Development at Minnesota Public Radio. Yoder will oversee all company development initiatives and operations. Yoder comes to APM|MPR from the Greater Twin Cities United Way, where she has served as senior vice president for Donor Relations. In that capacity, she led efforts that generated $90 million annually to support human services provided to the nine-county, metro area. From 2001-2007, she served as president of Yoder Henley Development Resources, a consulting firm assisting nonprofits in marketing, communications and development efforts. Yoder also has served as vice president for Institutional Advancement for the College of St. Catherine in St. Paul, and associate dean for External Affairs for the University of Minnesota’s Carlson School of Management.

Philip Korn ’90 has joined First Republic Bank in Palo Alto, Calif. as Relationship Manager and Managing Director. Korn specializes in serving venture capital and private equity firms and portfolio company entrepreneurs and has 20 years of financial services experience. He will focus on technology entrepreneurs and the venture capital community, providing private banking, business banking, investment management and trust services and real estate lending services. Korn will move to the bank’s new Menlo Park office on Sand Hill Road when it opens at the end of the first quarter.

Stewart Sarkozy-Banoczy ‘91 has been appointed Director, Philanthropic Research and Initiatives for the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) in Washington, D.C. within the Office for International and Philanthropic Innovation (IPI).  Prior to his Director position, Sarkozy-Banoczy served as Senior Advisor to the Deputy Assistant Secretary of the IPI Office.  IPI is charged with facilitating public-private partnerships in the philanthropic, non-governmental and international sectors to promote the mission of HUD.  One present project focuses on a global Sustainable Urban Housing Competition through Ashoka Changemakers and involving a wide variety of public and private partners.  Thunderbird President, Angel Cabrera, is of the judges for the competition and a recent blog post sheds further light on the sustainability efforts of HUD and the goals of the competition.  Sarkozy-Banoczy came to HUD from First Nations Oweesta Corporation, an indigenous community development and financial intermediary, where he served as Vice President and COO for seven years, managing the broad programmatic initiatives of the corporation, including consulting, lending, grantmaking and advocacy.  Sarkozy-Banoczy is a member of the Thunderbird Alumni Network Board (TANB) and writes for the Thunderbird for Good blog.  Sarkozy-Banoczy and his family recently moved to Takoma Park, MD.

Rake Jiang ’93 has joined Sixnet as Vice President of International Sales. In this role, Jiang will expand the global reach of Sixnet’s broad portfolio of industrial-grade connectivity products and solutions. As a seasoned executive with 20 years of hands-on experience in direct and channel sales, marketing and business development, Jiang has enabled some of the world’s leading technology companies, including Motorola, AT&T and Avaya/Lucent, to exceed sales and marketing goals. In his most recent role as VP and General Manager of International Sales & Global Strategic Alliances for Azalea Networks, Jiang delivered significant sales growth by winning high-profile deals worldwide and helped the organization capture 74% market share in China. Previously, Jiang led both direct and indirect sales for the launch of Motorola’s Mesh Wireless Broadband products in the Asia Pacific region. As Managing Director for Asia Pacific at Fiberlink, a global provider of policy-based secure mobile workforce solutions, he drove aggressive revenue growth with large accounts such as FedEx, PepsiCo, Toshiba, Panasonic, Samsung and LG. While serving as Director of Global Accounts at UUNET, the Internet infrastructure division of MCI WorldCom (now Verizon Business), Jiang oversaw sales of products and services for global accounts across the Americas, Europe and Asia Pacific.

Arkady Gerasenko ’94 has been named the new Corporate Banking Head for ING Bank Sofia branch, the Bulgarian banking arm of Dutch financial and insurance group ING. The appointment went into effect on January 1, 2011. Gerasenko joined the ING team in 1994 and has held various positions in the group’s Russian division.

Stefan Pepe ’94 has been appointed as Chief Product Officer for Gilt Groupe, Inc. In this role, Pepe will be responsible for product strategy, mobile applications and the overall user experience. Stefan joined Gilt Groupe in 2009 as the General Manager of the Home and Children’s businesses. Before joining Gilt, he spent a decade at Amazon.com, where he served in a variety of key leadership roles, including Director of North American Books and Magazines, Amazon.com’s largest category to date.

Alison Keller ’95 has joined AMR management Services as programs coordinator. Keller has more than 13 years of experience working primarily in corporate strategy, brand management and marketing. Her most recent position was as the worldwide marketing communications manager for Lexmark. In her new role, Keller will focus on the nationally recognized awards and conference programs for one of AMR’s client partners, the national Association of State Chief Information Officers.

Michael Cardone III ’97 has been promoted to President, CARDONE Industries. He is the third generation of the Cardone family to serve as president of the company. His new appointment became effective on January 3, 2011. Michael Cardone Jr. continues to serve as chairman and CEO of CARDONE Industries. Michael Cardone III brings with him a full range of experience. Most recently, he served as executive vice president of sales and marketing, where he had responsibility over North America and other key export markets, and chief of staff, where he led Global Strategic Planning. He also served as director of World Trade; marketing manager of Pumps Division; and manager of Market Development. Among his key accomplishments are the startup of CARDONE Industries businesses in Europe and Mexico. He also serves on the board of directors for two non-profit organizations, WorldServe International, and the Cardone Foundation.

They are married couples who are both graduates of Thunderbird. Some met before they arrived and others found their lifelong partners right here on campus.

In celebration of Valentine’s Day — which is held annually on February 14 in the U.S. — dozens of Thundercouples have shared their stories of love.

Some are funny and some are sweet, but all of them are filled with the sense of adventure and mystique that make Thunderbird special.

Their stories have been posted every weekday until Valentine’s Day. Today is the final posting in the series.

We hope that you will enjoy reading their stories as much as they have loved writing them! Happy Valentine’s Day to our Thundercouples!

“We met in 1998 in Professor Gottlieb’s Export/Import class.  It was the Frankfurter Allgemeine that I was reading that got the German boy’s attention.  But it was the Gatsby Gala at the Wrigley mansion that winter that sealed the deal.  Oliver was gorgeous, smart, and way fun.  We spent a good part of that night together and have been inseparable since.  At Thunderbird, we shared a love of adventure, exploring Arizona, riding Oliver’s motorcycle and the intellectual and social aspects of this special place in the desert.  We have been married for 16 incredible years that have been split between the U.S., Germany and Ireland.  We have enjoyed working for several multinational corporations and our lives have been touched by many friends around the globe.  Our mantra has been “never a dull moment” and although the multicultural family-across-the-ocean aspect of our lives can be challenging at times, we wouldn’t have it any other way.  We have two fantastic boys that are citizens on two continents and we will raise them to be citizens of the world.  Long live Thunderlove.  Happy Valentine’s Day.” – Rita Flom Britz ’94 and Oliver Britz ’93

“The story of how I met my Thunderbride, Lisa, was at a beach party that my college roommate was throwing at his parent’s beach house near Seattle.  He had organized a reunion party for his study abroad group and invited me to tag along. The group included students who attended colleges all over the Pacific Northwest who had completed a semester abroad in Cologne, Germany.  The party was just a few weeks before fall semester was about to start up the University of Washington.  During the party, I met Lisa for the first time and the conversation was so effortless and fun.  We were sitting on the beach talking about all kinds of things, including the subject of what we hoped to do after college. I mentioned my plan to attend a special school for international business in Arizona but said that on one ever recognizes the name.  Much to my surprise, she asked if it was Thunderbird. She then proceeded to explain that she was planning to go there too! As we continued talking we learned that we both were attending the University of Washington and both had the same major.  For as long as I have known her, Lisa has always worked with purpose on a cause to make the world a better place. For many years following grad school she was the program officer of an educational foundation in Seattle focused on human rights, national security, energy and environmental issues. Over the past several years, Lisa has focused full time on our three kids but has still managed to keep a volunteer schedule that would rival any full time job — raising money for cancer research,  rebuilding neighborhood parks in San Francisco, serving on the board of a foundation educating Burmese refugee children, teaching Sunday school at our church, and most recently, helping to establish a public umbilical cord blood bank that will be among the first of its kind in the country.  Lisa is special because she cares deeply about making the world a better place and because she has been so highly effective at using her time, both personally and professionally, to bring positive change.”  – Ann “Lisa” Craig Napoli ’87 and Gregg Napoli ’87

“We have been married 26 years. We met at Thunderbird in the fall 1983 and married in August 1984.  We have relocated several times to Paris and Shanghai, China with the automotive industry.  We have two children, Michael, 25, and Alexandra, 19.  Here is our story: I didn’t come to Thunderbird with the intention of finding a husband and he had no intention of coming to the U.S. to stay.  Each of us was searching for the next step in life, never guessing that the step would be to the altar.  Was it when I first saw him at the French Club meeting across the room with his booming voice accented by a dark overgrown mustache?  Or was it when he accidentally flipped me over while practicing Aikido on the Quad?  Or was it when he called to apologize and ask me to the Pub, where we discovered a common interest in Pac-Man?  Who knows? Twenty-six years later, this unlikely Franco-American union endures.  For our 20^th anniversary, we returned to France to run in the Marathon du Medoc.  Alain, a native of Bordeaux and I, a native of the Midwest, thought this would be a great way to celebrate.  It was and remains a perfect metaphor for a marriage of two cultures often navigated over narrow roads, gravel paths and patches of shifting sand.  Our chance meeting in the desert lowlands of Arizona to the gentle rolling terrain of the French countryside and back, has been worth the entire journey.”  - Alain M. Dereix ’83, Chief Engineer at BWI Group, Inc. Kettering, Ohio and Wendy Wong Dereix ’84,  ELA Teacher, Watts Middle School, Centerville, Ohio

“I met my husband Jarl Ånerud ‘82 in the new student orientation line on a hot August day.  Of all things – a girl from Arkansas meets a Norwegian Viking in the desert!  We were married in a private ceremony in Phoenix nine months later. We drove straight from our Accounting final, via the Courthouse, to Sky Harbor airport – in a yellow Skylark convertible with a bottle of champagne and a cooler in the back. Our honeymoon was the first time I was in Norway! When everyone returned for the fall semester, there were certainly a number of surprised students and faculty!  We moved to Oslo, Norway in 1983 and stayed there as well as London, for over 25 wonderful years. We returned to the U.S. in January 2009 for Kelly’s career opportunity in New York City. We are still together almost 29 years later – maybe at least partly due to T-birds’ natural and positive curiosity for other cultures and their ability to adapt. We have two sons – both born in Norway, and now living in the U.S. They might be T-bird legacies someday – who knows? To all our T-bird friends, please stay in touch and Skål y’all !” - Kelly Ragan Ånerud ‘82 and Jarl Ånerud ‘82

“You never know what you will find at a T-bird First Tuesday! Karen Longo ’88 and Antonio Fernandez ’98 first met at a Phoenix Chapter First Tuesday in 2004 while Karen was president of the chapter.  The very Type A president and so very Manana Man realized they were a great balance for each other. The pair married in 2007 and are enjoying life! Words of advice – support your local T-bird Chapter! You just might find LOVE!” –Karen Longo ’88

Elisabet’s story: “Barcelona, Spain: where she grew up; Kalamazoo, Michigan: where he grew up. Glendale, Arizona- IPE  Winterim class of ’98: Where they met and started dating; Archamps, France : Where they spent the Summer semester of ’98. Chicago, Illinois: where he got his consulting-competitive intelligence job after graduating; Miami, Florida: where she got her banking job. Washington D.C.: where they relocated with their second jobs to finally live together and where their first child , Nina, was born in 2004. Barcelona, Spain: where they relocated and had their second child, Kirsten, in 2005. Washington D.C., Chicago and Grand Rapids: where they’ve moved to and worked in the past 5 years; Hong Kong: where he was last week on business; Mumbai and Delhi: where he is going next month on business. Orlando, Florida: where we are spending this week visiting Disneyworld (1st time for the kids) and celebrating my birthday” - Elisabet Pons ’99 
Kurt’s story: “Elisabet and I met in Winterim ’98, when we started in the same IPE class and cohort group ( I don’t recall the name of our group but there are multiple people that we have both remained in touch with since graduating).  After graduating, we maintained a long-distance relationship until an opportunity arose for us to both take positions in Washington, D.C.  We were married in 2003 and have two daughters — one born in the US, the other in Barcelona.  We currently live in Grand Rapids, MI. One of the real positives to dating and ultimately marrying a fellow Thunderbird, is that there is an inherent shared interest and passion for all things international.  For us, this manifests itself in a variety of ways, from shared interest in politics and learning things about new cultures, to a willingness to search out positions that involve a high degree of travel and potential for ex-pat assignment.  It’s highly likely that we will end up living and working outside the U.S. when the right opportunity presents itself.   Our shared Thunderbird background increases the likelihood that we will both be able to thrive and enjoy that experience.”  - Kurt Neubauer ’99

“I remember the first time I saw Patrick…..showing up the last day of orientation. He had some confusion with dates. He was off in Mexico or somewhere. We shared some classes and friends during our time at Thunderbird. I knew he was a great and interesting (and cute!) person, but our paths did not bring us together as more than friends until three years later. We decided to meet at a Thunderbird happy hour and ended up talking for hours. Over the next few months we became more than friends. Shared passion and interest….we found that through Thunderbird, as well as in each other.  We both had a love of travel, learning new things, having new experiences and meeting new people. It was a whirlwind of adventure and fun in the early years. He is now my best friend as well as my husband. We share two incredible children together and a beautiful life. Life is still a whirlwind, but a very different scenario. Children’s voices, children’s toys, dogs barking, bird tweeting….things have changed, but not the way we feel for each other. How is he special? His loyalty, passion, fire, intellect, dedication, spirituality, love for his family, desire to keep growing, wit….I really can’t narrow down in words all that makes him the incredible person he is. I can just be thankful I get to spend my life with him.” –Shannon Bird Brennan ’00 and Patrick Brennan ’99

“We met at T-Bird Tuesday in Miami in January 1996.  With the same first name, breaking the ice was not hard.  In fact, we joked we could never date because it would be too confusing!  We immediately found a shared love for cycling and agreed to ride together before work.  Latin dancing on “group dates” with other T-Birds in South Beach, where we both lived, soon followed, and it wasn’t long thereafter we began dating. Since we both spoke English, Spanish and Portuguese and shared many other passions, it was easy to start exploring the world together, even as we dated for two years before tying the knot in 1998.  This included coordinating work trips to Latin America, traveling together and with other T-Birds to Europe and Asia, as well as skiing, scuba diving, golfing, and cycling. Whitney knew she wanted to grow old with Whit because he could turn any situation into a fun adventure.  Whit knew Whitney was special because she would accompany him on his adventures as well as ground him at home.  Together we have developed a strong relationship by understanding our different motivations for approaching life through the Enneagram, serving us well for 15 years!” - Whit Allen ’92 and Whitney Meyer Allen ’95

“Arnie and I met our first semester at Thunderbird — summer ’89 — playing for opposing teams on the soccer field in the over 115 degree heat. Married since 1993, we have also survived working together since 1991, playing soccer on the same coed team for 12 years and earning our CFPs over a 2-year period together at night after a long day at work. People constantly say to us they could never work with their spouse, yet it has never been an issue. It has almost always been that way…. maybe it was all those wonderful Thunderbird Diplomacy courses!” –Stacey Snyder Verbeek ’90 and Arnoldus “Arnie” Verbeek ’90

“Ampy Lee ‘92 and I met in Hong Kong in February 1994, part of a wave of T-birds flocking to the territory.  We were part of a tight-knit group, and professional pursuits were foremost.  Just before the Handover of HK to China in July ’97 romance bloomed, unexpectedly; we risked our own and many friendships with the new relationship.  We joke that we self-arranged our marriage. Since we had only three weeks before Ampy departed for the Philippines and I to Shanghai for work, we decided to interview each other about what we wanted out of life and marriage over the three weeks.  While romance took care of itself in the evenings, lunches were all business, when tough questions were asked and answered. How many kids? What about family relationships? What about faith?  Three months of emails and calls followed, and in October we decided to get married in August 1998 in Scottsdale.  During our engagement we saw each other one weekend a month, in either Manila or Shanghai.  During the 13 months of our courtship, we spent only eight weeks together.  After nearly 13 years of marriage, she’s still the vision of beauty she was then, and our arranged marriage is going strong.”  -J. Chris Cogswell ’93   

“Those who attended Thunderbird during 1984 will most probably recall the sight: a very trusting cute little Valley girl frequently crisscrossing the campus precariously perched on the handlebars of a black beach cruiser pedaled by a blond guy from North Carolina.  That was us – Suzanne and John.  We actually met on the first day of Winterim in the coffee shop.  The pickup line was so cheesy that it doesn’t warrant repeating.  Anyway, we stuck together and the cycling seemed to symbolize the bond between us.  The trust was requited and lasting until the last day of classes before graduation. Before word processors and personal computers, most students would pay someone to type their papers for them.  We had jointly written a case study on Vickers in Asia and had just collected it from our typist’s house somewhere in Glendale.  Our families had also arrived for the graduation festivities and had planned a dinner for us – off campus!   All we needed to do was get into some nice clothes and submit the paper to the prof’s office in the control tower before a night on the town.  Time was short and the bike seemed to be the natural means to speed our way across campus and to the car.  Remember those berms that surrounded anything which required water?  Well in haste as John cut a corner too tightly, the front wheel of the bicycle caught one, catapulting Suzanne into the hedge that separated the parking lot from the grass in front of the cafeteria. And in her hand was the paper!  The dirt on her knees was less of a point of anger than the grass stain on the cover sheet of our last exhausting project.  John sheepishly re-typed the page but saved the soiled one.  It was duly framed and given to Suzanne on their wedding day.” – Suzanne (née Dibie) Shook ’84 and John Shook ’84

Written by Kim: “We were at Thunderbird in 1992.  Being the early birds that we were, we both signed up for the 7:30 a.m. International Finance and Trade class.  As exams drew near, study groups formed and we were part of the same group.  We also both studied Asian languages — Kyle took Japanese and I took Chinese.  A dinner group was formed where the group looked for fun Asian restaurants near campus.  Needless to say, as we studied and dined, we fell in love.  On Halloween, Kyle took me to a beautiful dinner in Scottsdale and proposed.  We now have three children and live in Houston, Texas.  When my third child was born, I chose to pursue a different career — raising three kids, which I love.  Kyle has been with Wells Fargo Bank for 16 years and is currently EVP & Group Head of the bank’s Energy practice.” – Kim Adams Hranicky ’93 and Kyle Hranicky ’93

“Chandra and I met during the first day of orientation at Thunderbird,  where we were placed in the same cohort group.  She was beautiful and I was arrogant.  Right from the start she and several future friends disliked me. During the over 110-degree summer of 1998, our cohort group worked, stressed, and enjoyed the freedom that only full time students coming out of corporate jobs could really appreciate. Any prolonged period of high stress, pressure, and competition change and bond those involved.  Chandra and I quickly started studying, hanging out, and as often as studies allowed, clubbing in Scottsdale.  Our friends knew it before we did and a few months later we started dating. One day in a lecture hall staring at the world map and planning a back packing trip, I realized that she was without any doubt ‘The One’ that I wanted to see the world with.  My trip money went for the ring.   After graduation in an olive grove in Umbria, Italy she said ‘yes.’  Her love of life, food, adventure and fun has never dulled since the day I met her.  We have sky dived, bungee- jumped, slurped soba, siesta-ed, dined well, and driven recklessly on several continents.  In four months, we will celebrate our tenth anniversary.  The adventure has never ended and she is still ‘The One’.”  -Richard Riccetti ’00 and Chandra Seki Riccetti ’00

“John and I met in the pub at a “Welcome New Students” night in late January 1978.  I just arrived from Chicago and John had just returned from three years in the Peace Corps in Cameroun, West Africa. I forget how we met, but we were way more interested in checking other people out than talking to each other.  Fast forward to the summer and we were in practically every class together and started just hanging out. After about a month, I dropped a hint with some friends that I was kind of interested – but he didn’t pick up on it, so I decided to forget the whole thing. He finally asked me out to see a mercenary movie (how romantic) on 11/16.  We talked until dawn (honest!) and so began our future together, but we had job offers in different places. After graduation, John decided to move to San Francisco with me and gave up a job in South Africa with an industrial company. We were married on November 17, 1979 in San Francisco with T-birds Ed Atwill, Tony D’Antonio, Doug Pressman and Terry Backstrom attending. Today we’re in business together in the Bay Area and our son Max just turned 21. We were in Scottsdale this past week for a conference and stopped by Thunderbird. It felt great to be back where it all started!”  -Barbara Damm McKinney ’78 and John McKinney ’78

They are married couples who are both graduates of Thunderbird. Some met before they arrived and others found their lifelong partners right here on campus.

In celebration of Valentine’s Day — which is held annually on February 14 in the U.S. — dozens of Thundercouples have shared their stories of love.

Some are funny and some are sweet, but all of them are filled with the sense of adventure and mystique that make Thunderbird special.

Their stories will be posted every weekday until Valentine’s Day, so don’t forget to check back daily.

We hope that you will enjoy reading their stories as much as they have loved writing them!

“Wendy Kotila ’00 and I were in the same orientation group (Coyote pride!) and hit it off from the get go. She had me from the first time she asked if I might give her a tennis lesson. That said, I’m one of those guys who assumed that women would be very interested in being friends with, but not interested in dating — I assumed she actually wanted to learn to play tennis. So our relationship didn’t really start until after we spent several weeks together. During these weeks, I wistfully hoped this time would lead to something, while Wendy wondered why I was such a wimp and didn’t make a move. It all came to a head July 4, 1998 when Wendy gave me an ultimatum to either ask her out or stop flirting with her. The rest, as they say, is history, though I will note that despite my best efforts and one whole lesson, Wendy still doesn’t play tennis. We have partnered in a very T-bird life. We started off in the Bay Area, then appled for work visas for Australia, which led us to Melbourne, then to Sydney and then to Singapore, where we have embarked on the next great global adventure — parenthood.”           - Anthony “Boughty” Boughton Canton ‘99

“My wife and I met during fall semester of 1991.  She is one half Costa Rican and one half American, while I am French.  We first noticed each other at one of the many student parties across campus, but did not have the opportunity to meet.  It happened that one of her friends had borrowed my accounting book and as she returned it, we were introduced.  Then we would not miss a chance to bump into each other as I was swimming laps below her dorm or she was jogging right past mine.  We had a first date at the Swanson’s ice cream parlor and the rest is history. We have since had the true multilingual, full of travels T-bird experience.  After working several years in Hawaii, we moved to Costa Rica where we set up various ventures involving most of Central America, Western Europe, USA and Canada.  With the support of my wife, multitasking to help the businesses flourish, we were able to successfully grow and sell the companies to multinational entities.  We are now looking forward to a slower pace, moving back to the USA and consulting from there, so that our three children can have another experience closer to family.”  -Hervé Fleisch ’91 and Yvette Rusca-Fleisch ’93

“Serendipity \ser-ən-di-pə-tē: the faculty or phenomenon of finding valuable or agreeable things not sought for. It was the orientation week mixer at Barwinkles. There he was.  “What a cute guy,” I thought to myself.  I don’t usually go for blonds, but this guy is hot.  Next thing I knew, he came up to me, tray of food in hand, and asked, “Have you seen my friend?” That friend was another first semester T-bird I had met the day prior.  And that is how is all began.  Little did I know that I had met my best friend and soul mate.  I later discovered he was my next door neighbor in West dorm.  We had Cost Accounting together.  We shared the Wall Street Journal.  If it wasn’t for him, I would not have known to waive the classes I did.  He encouraged me to take Interad – a career-defining course for me.  He helped me find my first job in advertising.  He helped me and has been helping me for over 19 years to be a better person in every sense.  Sven is my life partner and my rock. He is the best thing in my life – bar none.  - Renée Lavecchia ’92 on meeting husband Sven Thorslund ’92

“Complete opposites, my slow stoic Swedish cool and her forward friendly Panamanian-American fashion didn’t make an immediate connection.  “Wow! …too bad I can’t keep up with her effervescent style.” “Hmm, how is this guy such a quiet iceberg?” Fortunately, we were destined to become neighbors, share the same group of friends and even share the WSJ. Over time, there was a daily alignment around news, lunches, mail checks, study time and friends. It was our friend Audra who first saw what we didn’t realize: “You’re a couple!” We of course denied this. “No, no, nothing is going on,” we said.  This all caught up with us at the end of our first semester. We kissed under the stars at Thunderball and the mystique turned into magic. Almost 20 years later I am still amazed at the beauty, grace, love and joy Renée brings to my life. She’s my inspiration and my better half in every sense. The ice has melted and the quiet is gone, but there’s still no keeping up with Renée, the mesmerizing center of this dream.”          – Sven Thorslund ’92 on meeting wife Renée Lavecchia ‘92

“Mads and Lisa met at an off-campus party during the winter of 1987 at their friend Bill Tung’s house. Lisa was accompanied by girlfriends Melinda, Valerie, and Betsy, when she first met Mads. While not love at first sight, after several chance meetings on campus and at parties, Lisa and Mads soon became quite fond of each other and 23 years later they still are! Both were set to graduate in December 1987 and made a pact with each other that they would move together to whichever location where the first one got a job offer. Lisa beat out Mads with an offer for an international job based in New York, while his offer in London came a week later. True to his word, they moved to NY. By July 1988 they were married at Lisa’s hometown in Michigan where many good Thunderbird friends attended the wedding. When asked what Lisa likes about Mads, she responded, “Mads has a sense of adventure and is at ease in new surroundings. He is a man of the world, who is not defined by any certain culture or nationality. Growing up as a Dane in Sudan, Ethiopia, Kuwait, Denmark and the U.S., along with a Thunderbird global education, Mads seems to feel comfortable operating in any country. I always feel safe with Mads who remains calm and seems to have an internal GPS whether we are in a foreign country, at sea in our boat, driving to a new destination, or meeting new people.  Mads’ sense of direction and vision along with his strong work ethic make him a steady leader at work and a reliable husband and father. He is always there for his family and friends and is incredibly loyal. Watching Mads as a father to our boys Tahoe and Dakota warms my heart. Mads said what he likes about Lisa is that “Lisa is full of enthusiasm with a can-do attitude. Her outgoing personality and enjoyment of getting to know people leads her to make new friends wherever she is. Whatever Lisa takes on, she does with passion and commitment, such as her recent work in Sustainability along with her efforts to increase corporate and public awareness of environmental issues. Lisa is a great mom to our two boys who keep her busy with their active schedules and it astounds me how many other activities she is involved in such as non-profit board positions, her work, and organizing community events.”  -Lisa Wiemer Lillelund ’87, Founder of Mango Networks, Environmental and Sustainability Communications Company and Mads Lillelund ’87, CEO of Bluesocket, Inc., vendors of Wireless Local Area Networks.

“You learned Mandarin Chinese in order to earn your engineering degree?” 
“You lived and worked in Africa with no running water, no electricity?”
“Roman and I first met in Career Management class on the day we were to critique CVs. Prior to this, we had been making eye contact across the room in IPE, but hadn’t actually spoken.  We exchanged CVs and were amazed at our diverse backgrounds. Roman grew up in Bulgaria, studied in China and worked in Japan.  I grew up in Pennsylvania, lived in Arizona and California and had then joined the U.S. Peace Corps as a Small Business Advisor in Kenya.  And now here we were in Glendale, networking (like a good MBA student should.) Meeting at Thunderbird was ideal, because we got to know each other through a variety of circumstances — studying, working under pressure on group projects, arguing over political and strategic business issues and watching each other during presentations.  We learned that we made a very good team and figured that if we could make it through the intensity of the program together, we could make it through life together.  We have been happily married for 6 years, continuously supporting each other in our careers and in life.  Just goes to show, you never know where networking will lead you.”              -Michele Fedor ’03 and  Roman Vasilev ’03

“We are a Thundercouple with two Thunderkids. When I, Jamie Oñate Rahbany, graduated in December 2000 and took a job in Denver, Colorado, I knew that I needed to continue my Thunderbird lifestyle by connecting with T-birds through the local chapter. I decided to get involved and participate in the Social Committee to see what new club I could initiate. Christoph Rahbany ’89 was sitting across the table from me at the kick-off meeting and together we volunteered to start a chapter book club, which he named T-Leaves. At the convening of the first book club, we quickly chose Isabelle Allende’s House of Spirits and then went next door for a pint. We spent all night talking… and so it began. I think of the more than six months we held the club, only once did another T-bird join us. Eventually our book conversations turned into friendship, which grew into true love, and the best partnership of my life. We spent his 40th birthday driving up Pacific Coast Highway, making our way from Portland, to Vancouver, to San Francisco. We combined households shortly thereafter and then traveled to Christoph’s father’s native home of Beirut. In the church where his ancestors had all been baptized, in a mountain town of Dhour Shweir, he proposed. That was the beginning of our family adventure. On our honeymoon we traveled to Argentina and returned home to work on our Thunderkids. Kamilah Nicole was born July 23, 2007 and her first trip was to New York City. Before she was 1-year-old, we traveled to Christoph’s mother’s family home in Zürich. Our beautiful baby boy Elias Philip was born March 31, 2010 and his first trip was to Mexico. We both enjoy fulfilling careers, I as the head of Americas Marketing for a fast-paced information company, and Christoph as the leader of supply planning for the largest privately-held baked goods company. We find the center of our world in our home with our young wonders. We look forward most to seeing the world through their eyes as they grow and explore. Thunderbird has afforded us the things we cherish most in life in each other.”  - Jamie Rahbany ’00

“Curtis Metz ’98 and I both attended the Thunderbird chapel one day where I did a reading in French.  He asked a mutual friend to introduce us.  The introduction never materialized.  Fortunately, my last semester, we ended up in Commercial French together.   I asked him for help with my car, and he asked me out.  My ploy worked.  We’ve been married 10 years, have three children and have enjoyed the T-bird dream of working abroad.  Twice we’ve worked together…I’ve been his boss and he has been mine.  Through all the people, countries, jobs, and circumstances we’ve encountered, our time at Thunderbird helped equip us to face each new day’s challenges with grace and flexibility.  Some of our best friends, now scattered around the globe, were classmates…or met at the Pub.”  -Heidi Stephens Metz ’98

“Victor Alcazar-Toribio’97 and I met in International Business Management.  He asked to be part of our group because he was interested in me, though I had no idea.  It wasn’t until after graduation that we went on our first date.  At the time, he was working for Motorola in a rotational program and I was starting a business in Mexico.  Therefore, neither of us had any time to date, nor did we live in the same place, so we never went on another date or even talked.  Five months later ,we both came back to Thunderbird to see other friends of ours graduate.  It was at this graduation party that we finally began to date long-distance.  At that time, he was moving to Austin and I was in Mexico, but we made it work. One year later, we were married.  On February 13th we will be married 12 years! We have three beautiful girls ages 9, 7, and 5, and we couldn’t be happier.  Our wedding was a wonderful reunion of all of our friends from Thunderbird who came from all over the world.  Happy 12th Anniversary Victor!  I love you more each day. Thank you Thunderbird for introducing me to the best man ever!”   -Amy Baar Alcazar ’97

“My wife and I met in perhaps the most the dangerous place on campus, even more dangerous than the Pub – the IBIC!  We graduated in 2003 and then spent the next four years apart (Celebrities Drew Barrymore and Justin Long are a couple of sissies who couldn’t even make it a year!).  In 2007, Karen moved to the U.S. and we married that same year.  This past year ,we both relocated to Los Angeles for new positions, and in December welcomed our daughter to the world, Sofia del Carmen.  What can we say?  With new jobs, a new city and a new baby, 2011 will be many things but certainly not dull! Cheers.”  -Aaron Heilbrun ’03 and Karen Centeno Heilbrun ’03

“When I arrived at Thunderbird in the summer of 1989, I was determined to ignore all distractions while working hard toward finding my dream job overseas.  That lasted exactly 24 hours until I bumped into Richard Rohrbach ’90 at the orientation mixer.  In the end, when the choice came down to the dream job in Europe or Richard in Atlanta, I drove south…  (Definitely NOT part of my original 10-year plan!) We worked for Turner/Time Warner/AOL in the Latin American division, and often traveled together.  It takes a strong marriage to get through customs in Honduras, the commuter flight to Uruguay, stomach flu in Guatemala, Mexican traffic, the caipirinhas in Brazil, etc! Honorable and kind, Richard is still the man I bumped into.  He brings out the best in me; he has my back; he thinks growing old together is a great adventure. I never knew until I found Richard that I had been waiting for someone who shared a love of languages, travel, international events, adventure, learning and shared a love of trying to make the world a better place. Who knew?  I was waiting for a Thunderbird!”   -Melanie Bradley Rohrbach ’90

They are married couples who are both graduates of Thunderbird. Some met before they arrived and others found their lifelong partners right here on campus.

In celebration of Valentine’s Day — which is held annually on February 14 in the U.S. — dozens of Thundercouples have shared their stories of love.

Some are funny and some are sweet, but all of them are filled with the sense of adventure and mystique that make Thunderbird special.

Their stories will be posted every weekday until Valentine’s Day, so don’t forget to check back daily.

We hope that you will enjoy reading their stories as much as they have loved writing them!

“We met in the T-bird cafeteria, where else?  Neither one of us ever expected to meet the person we would marry at graduate school.  We came seeking international careers and marriage was just not in the plans. However, Thunderbird turned out to be the perfect place to develop a relationship.  Living on campus gave us time to get to know each other through shared meals, study groups (by the pool) and other fun experiences.  Together we made lifelong friends from all over the world. International Finance was the one class we had together.  We were on a team of three competing against others for who could make the best foreign exchange hedging decisions week by week.  For several weeks, we were at the top until one week when the bottom dropped out.  In our final presentation we had to defend our actions to the teacher, a second professor and an area businessman so we explained that business took a downturn since we were distracted due to a “proposed merger” between two of the team members but it assured great future growth.  We got engaged over the weekend!  After 26 years of marriage, it still is a successful venture.”  -Mark Brown ’84 and Kathleen Heffernan Brown ’84

“Ken Bauer and Dee Ann Brauer – you can tell already we were destined to meet during our time at Thunderbird, but both being selected to study at the Institute for International Studies and Training in Japan during spring, 1990 made it a life-long connection. I first realized the closeness of our names was very confusing to our Japanese hosts when I was mistakenly given Ken’s “pub” bill. And as is probably obvious, what started out as an annoyance soon changed into a “why fight it” attitude and soon we were a pair of adventurers with still a lot of wanderlust ahead. We enjoyed biking all over Japan on our weekends and exploring Japanese culture to the extent we could afford it! Towards the end of that amazing semester spent at the base of Mt. Fuji, Ken asked me to continue our adventure and board a freighter from Kobe, Japan to Shanghai, China. Being much more pre-planned, I had already secured an internship after school at the American Embassy, Department of Commerce in Tokyo. A quick call from the pay phone located in the laundry room (well before international cell phones) to my new boss – who was also a Thunderbird, explaining I had an opportunity for an “educational excursion” gave us a chance to continue the adventure a little while longer. Many bikes, trains, boats and stories later, we arrived at Hong Kong where we said goodbye.  Ken returned to the U.S. and I went on to my internship in Tokyo. We stayed in contact, and a few years later, decided it was the real thing with vows exchanged in Punta Bete, Mexico in 1993 – black tie and barefoot. Our parents were happy the wedding wasn’t at the top of Mt. Fuji. Starting an import/export company was a dream we shared, and while living in London after graduation and being inspired by British Colonial style, we launched a furniture/design company called Bauer/Brauer International — no just kidding. The company is called Bauer International (www.bauerinternational.com). It is truly an entrepreneurial venture — managing currencies, warehousing, shipping, marketing and design. Ken still travels extensively to the Far East. We also have been blessed with three wonderful children ages 14, 13 and 11. And while they have a lot of stamps in their passports already, our favorite trip was taking them last summer back to Japan to show them where Mom and Dad met and fell in love.  Happy Valentine’s Day to all the other Thundercouples out there!”  -Ken Bauer ’90 and Dee Ann Bauer ’90

“I met my husband, Ty, at Thunderbird, while waiting in a line to register for classes. He was right behind me, and we just started talking. I thought he was such a pleasant, outgoing person. He had traveled all over the world and was so knowledgeable. We became friends, and after a year together at Thunderbird our friendship evolved into something stronger.” -Maria Jose L. Stewart ’85 and Ty Stewart ’85

“How Phil English ’84 and I met has the making of a good reality show–betrayal, secrets, and partner swapping. In the summer of 1983, we socialized in the same group, but I was dating his   suitemate and Phil was dating a girl from his college. Our group frequented the Pointe for Happy Hour or hung out at the T-bird pub. I didn’t realize that my partner started seeing a fresher young Thunder chick behind my back and no one had the nerve to tell me! Then Phil’s partner revealed her passion for someone else within our group! Suddenly, both single, Phil and I found ourselves keeping company with each other–eating meals, walking to class together, and becoming more than best friends. I even risked my life riding in his Toyota without air conditioning, as he sped down Interstate 10 while changing into soccer gear before a soccer game. Since it was sweltering inside the car, I had to peel the fabric off my sweaty legs! This was just the beginning of a lifetime adventure with Phil — with the best adventures being our three wonderful sons. Phil is special because he works hard to make a positive difference in other people’s life.”  - Li-Lin Kao English ’84

“Plato Ghinos ’85 always says, “Thunderbird was great, I got a degree and a spouse, two for one special!”  Plato and I met at Pub Night.  It was my first week of school and Plato’s third semester.  My drink slipped out of my hands and onto his shoes and that was beginning of our wonderful relationship.  He was President of the Greek Club and Thunderbird’s Entertainment Chairman at the time and he kept calling to ask for help typing the club minutes. Likely excuse!  Our first real “date” was at the Point at Tapatio where we enjoyed drinks and free appetizers during happy hour.  We studied hard, worked hard and played hard, and it was easy to know we’d end up together.  Plato proposed about two-and-one-half months after we met and we married three months after I graduated.  Two children and 25 years later, he’s still the best thing that has ever happened to me.  What makes Plato special?  His enormous integrity, strong work ethic, great sense of humor and commitment to family.” -Cassandra Maragos Ghinos ’86

“We met on our way out from the balloon race in the fall of 1984 (back when it was held on campus).  We later ran into each other at the coffee shop and finally went on our first date to the rugby banquet.  Although TK officially graduated that December, he stayed around to bartend at the Pub, work as a teacher’s assistant, look for a job, and court me!  We became engaged at the spring rugby banquet.  He left that summer for a job at Continental Grain and I went to intern at Republic Bank in Dallas.  I returned to Thunderbird to complete my degree in fall 1985.  We got married February 15, 1986.  Our 25th anniversary is this year!   It’s difficult to put into words what makes my husband special, but he is truly an incredible person, husband and father.  We’ve had an amazing 25 years and look forward to another 25!” -Stephanie Schira Knowlton ’85 and Thomas Knowlton ’85

“At the beginning of our first semester – January 1989 – we initially had several encounters as new groups of friends formed on and off-campus. The one that we both remember happened at the campus bookstore. She was in front of me in line to pay for textbooks, but ran out of time before her next class started, so she turned around to me and asked whether I would mind paying for her books and dropping them by her apartment after classes were out. “Sure, I’d be happy to” I said, thinking of no alternatives for using a signed blank check or better ways to spend the afternoon than to schlep text books to some distant apartment. The first real date happened about one month later when I “tricked” her into going to the movies with me for a birthday present. As an advanced Spanish speaker, she showed commitment when she started taking German language classes to better understand what I was talking about.  She put it to good use too, as we moved to Germany later that year and have been there ever since. Our relationship is special because we are both Thunderbirds.  We are dealing with cultural differences in a special way; we bring our kids up in a multi-cultural and bi-lingual way; and we really enjoy our friendships with other alumni in that special way.” -Jolie Gutentag ’90 and Georg Redlbacher ’90

“Our first meeting, a new student orientation at a local Mexican restaurant, was auspicious. I had been on campus for two semesters, and she had just arrived (There may be some truth to her comment that I was attending only to scout the new ‘talent.’) Given her background with a Fortune 500 (AT&T) and mine working for two years in various jobs at a ski resort, she had serious doubts about the quality of the school and student body.  I thought she was stuck up.  Needless to say, our first conversation was short. Fate intervened several days later when we met at a private party in Scottsdale. To rescue her from a fellow student, a notorious womanizer, I asked her to dance.  From that moment, that initial touch, I was hooked, and we have been a couple ever since.  It is hard to imagine, almost 30 years later, that one dance created such a strong bond!  We have been married for 25 years and have three great children.  She remains the love of my life, and the pillar of stability for our family. She is still the only person I am comfortable dancing with, most likely because she leads!” -Walter U. Baker ’83 and Susan Delbridge Baker ’83

“We’ve been a Thundercouple for 20 years.  While Amy was touring Thunderbird and visiting college friend Rochel Cook Shoor ’91, Enrique was making sure candidates felt welcome at The Pub.  We shared a pursuit of global careers in finance and a passion for international travel, and appreciated the value of beer and good friends.  After Thunderbird, we had a long-distance international relationship before Enrique proposed and Amy moved to Mexico.  Working for multinational companies in Mexico and then for Wall Street firms in New York City, we balanced our hectic schedules by overlapping on business trips to Buenos Aires, Madrid, and even Houston.  We now call the San Francisco Bay Area home, where Enrique loves helping his clients at an independent investment advisory firm and Amy specializes in investor relations. By far, the greatest highlight of our lives as a Thundercouple has been our around-the-world adventure, spending a year traveling throughout Africa, Asia, and the Middle East.  We now share a very different adventure — raising three bilingual, bicultural boys, while continuing to value our relationships with family and Thunderbird friends.” -Enrique Figueroa ’91 and Amy Janzen Figueroa ’92

“February 13, 1991 — tennis club tryouts by the TAC.  We were matched based on skill, but connected based upon mutual attraction…both hail from Virginia, fellow UVa grads, Spanish speakers, sports & movie fans, lovers of food & drink…the last two have defined Allison’s post-Thunderbird career through which I live vicariously today.  Neither of us came to Thunderbird to find a spouse.  Allison joked that after her long-term relationship ended in Spain she was going to enjoy being single and play the field.  In Glendale, I asked?  Alas I interfered with that plan the very next day — Valentine’s Day — when I left my date with another T-bird (hey, it was planned before I met “the one”) to see Allison.  I never looked back.  We loved our time on campus together, especially bartending at the Pub, and relished in Thursday Pub Night hijinks and after hours parties (don’t you people have homes?).  Apart for only two years after Thunderbird (pre-Web days = $500 monthly phone bills), 20 years later we have a great life with fantastic twin 6-year-old boys named Alex and Jackson, plus a third child, Square One Organic Spirits – her nearly five-year-old boutique spirits company. We’ll be back to campus for 11-11-11.  How could we miss the new Tower Building’s unveiling and the chance to imbibe in the relocated Pub?” – Bill Evanow ’92 and Allison Jones Evanow ’92

“Ileana Rodriguez ’04 and I are proud to call ourselves a Thundercouple.  We first met during the flag ceremony, where Ileana caught my eye as she walked by with the Venezuelan flag.  But the sparks didn’t begin to fly until we worked together on a statistics project.  Never before had bell curves been so sexy!  It wasn’t long before we were married and expecting our first Thunderbaby, Isabella.  Isabella was born in Phoenix, Arizona and was later joined by her best friend and little sister, Elisa.  We have since had the opportunity to live abroad in Sakhalin, Russia, and travel throughout much of Asia.  As with most Thunderbirds, we share a love of travel, and feel truly blessed to have the opportunity to introduce our young daughters to diverse cultures and languages.  We cherish the memories that were created during our time at Thunderbird, and look forward to many more years exploring the world together.”  –Mike Ferber ’04

“How I met my lovely wife Mayalen: It was the summer of 1978 and Mayalen was just starting her BA in Economics at the Universidad Anahuac in  Mexico City.  A friend of my classmate at school called me over the phone and invited me to go out with some girls to a disco in downtown Mexico City.  At that time, I had a girlfriend…woops. That night Mayalen went out with my friend’s cousin and I did the same with another girl, with whom I did not match at all. I did not take my eyes away from Mayalen, so after that night I got her address and phone number and did my homework, so I asked out. Two weeks later she was officially my girlfriend. Four years later we got married and went first to Colorado and ended up later on at Thunderbird for our MIM. After 29 years, we are a very happy family in Mexico City with two great daughters, Amaya, 25, and Nekane, 19. Amaya is at Waterloo University studying for a Master in Mathematics and Nekane is preparing for a BA in Finance. ”  – Carlos Martinez ’84 and Mayalen Belausteguigoita Martinez ’84

When Thunderbirds graduate, they head out into the world with fresh knowledge, improved business skills and enhanced cultural awareness, but some T-birds also leave with new-found love – and these are what we call Thundercouples.

They are married couples who are both graduates of Thunderbird. Some met before they arrived and others found their lifelong partners right here on campus.

In celebration of Valentine’s Day — which is held annually on February 14 in the U.S. — dozens of Thundercouples have shared their stories of love.

Some are funny and some are sweet, but all of them are filled with the sense of adventure and mystique that make Thunderbird special.

Their stories will be posted every weekday until Valentine’s Day, so don’t forget to check back daily.

We hope that you will enjoy reading their stories as much as they have loved writing them!

“During my last exam of the spring semester, I was busy struggling with a cost accounting exam and noticed an exotic Asian girl with really long hair turning her test in early. I thought, “Hmmm…she is smart….and hot,” and returned to my exam. A few days later, I left for a summer internship in China where I picked up some Mandarin. When I came back in the fall, we both happened to be selected to attend a Consulting Trek in Chicago. I tried to impress her by telling her, “I like spicy food” in Mandarin (she is from Sichuan, the region known for spicy food in China). I guess it worked…she is my wife and we have an 11-month-old (future T-bird) named Walker.” – Cullen Evans ’07 and Roxanne Zhong ‘07

“We met in the fall of 1961 at what was then known as AIFT (American Institute of Foreign Trade).  I was studying and taking the sun in the Quad when suddenly a golfball appeared on my blanket.  Bill marched over to retrieve it. He then asked me to go to dinner and I went.  Four years later, we were married.  Only recently, did I learn that I was a bet — Bill’s roommates had bet he couldn’t get a date with me and they paid for our dinner!  We just celebrated our 45th anniversary, and yes he still plays golf three times a week.” -Shirley Wood Hartley ’62 and William B. “Bill” Hartley ’62

“Theresa and I met on our first day at Thunderbird in August 1983.  In 2010, we celebrated our 25th wedding anniversary.  We often reminisce about Thunderbird and our wonderful experiences, especially now that the oldest of our four children is college-bound.  Our story is simple.  Like most new students, after arriving and settling in, we found ourselves at the Pub.  Everyone was excited with anticipation of what was to come and landing that plum overseas job after graduation.  Theresa was there with her roommates and I was there with mine.  Our two groups shared a table and friendships were quickly made by swapping travel abroad stories with all realizing that we were kindred spirits with similar interests, dreams, and goals.  I was instantly and deeply attracted to Theresa.  Within weeks we were a couple and by the time graduation came, we were engaged.  Although our dream overseas jobs never materialized, Theresa did become a global products manager at AT&T for the Bay Area’s Asian communities before becoming a fulltime mom, and I found satisfaction with a Wall Street career that allowed for some global travel. All-in-all, we’ve been supremely blessed and credit Thunderbird for bringing us together.”    -Campbell Chaney ’84 and Theresa Puchner Chaney ’84

“Kris Baumgart ‘87 and I met at Thunderbird in 1987. We were both from Wisconsin. I saw her wearing a Wisconsin sweatshirt in the cafeteria and thought to myself, “I’m going to get to know her!” I think she was eating the “Texas Straw Hat” for lunch. She challenged me to a game of HORSE on the basketball court (she didn’t have a basketball. I won.) She was advanced in the computer class I was taking and conveniently became my tutor. We made about $2,000 that semester together selling T-shirts that said, “Thunderbird. A long tradition of men and women in interesting positions.” We both ended up with jobs in Minneapolis and were married a year later. We spent four years in Germany and then 11 in New Jersey before moving back to Wisconsin. We have three lovely girls, who we hope will attend Thunderbird one day.”  -Fritz Grutzner ’87

“I met my now-husband, David Burks ’85, during his new student orientation in the autumn of 1984. I had started in Winterim of that year and was heading up the welcoming committee for new students. The next two terms, we both lived on the quad and started spending more and more time together. Relationship development at Thunderbird proceeds at a warp pace, and by the time I left to finish my degree in Japan at the end of 1984, we were an item. Being an American Thundercouple meant that we both wanted to live abroad and have been fortunate to have had the opportunity to move to Singapore in 1991. Twenty years and two kids later, we are still here. Our eldest is off to university this August – he thinks America is an exotic place. What makes my husband special to me is that we have similar values and attitude towards life. He is a very kind person and I love him very much.” –Joy Stevenson ’85

“It was love at first sight. Ted and Jennifer met on their first day of classes at Thunderbird. During International Political Economy, Jennifer was taking notes like mad, but felt that she needed to fill in some blanks, so she approached the teacher after class. Ted was sitting nearby, next to the podium, because it was the only seat left when he arrived last for the 200-person class. Jennifer noticed that Ted had all the answers written down, so he helped her, and his friends asked her to join their study group. That Christmas, Ted called Jennifer at her aunt’s house and they talked for an hour about everything going on in their lives. That’s when she knew he was someone special in her life, and it’s why their marriage is so strong today; they are best friends and talk all the time. They worked together at Thunderbird, and they work together now. They were married in 1993. On the IPE final, Jennifer had the highest score in the class and Ted had the second highest. Jennifer says Ted balances her, and Ted says you should always marry someone smarter than yourself!” -Ted Risdall ’92 and Jennifer Wilbanks Risdall ’92

“Rosemary Czubaj ’84 and I, Stanley Gronek ’83, met at the Sears Tower in 1976, while working at the Sears Bank and Trust Company. Rosemary started at the bank two years prior.  We both attended Roosevelt University’s Lawyer Assistant’s Program to be certified as paralegals in the Estates, Trusts and Probate area.  When I joined the bank, I took over Rosemary’s trust accounts. One Friday night I invited Rosemary to a Milwaukee Avenue Polish taverna on the north side of Chicago. We danced the night with disco music blaring and with the large mirrored ball sparkling light across walls. I proposed on our second date; however, we got married three years later on Monday, October 13, 1981 in Athens, Greece.  Rosemary said marriage was Greek to her.  We came to Thunderbird as married students in January 1983. I received my M.I.M. in December 1983 and continued for a semester as student body president. Rosemary finished her internship project with the U.S. Department of Commerce, “Marketing Solar Voltaic Cells to Third World Countries” and graduated with an M.I.M. in May 1984. Rosemary worked as a Sales Finance Manager for Case Corporation in Racine WI, spending a two-year (1995-1997) assignment in Singapore.  She completed her second Master degree at Naropa University in Boulder, CO, and currently is licensed as a professional counselor and addiction therapist, working for Boulder County Addiction Recovery Center. Stan worked in telecommunications for MCI, WorldCom, US West, Qwest and British Telecom.  Currently, Stan is Financial Secretary/Treasurer and Assistant Business Agent for the Amalgamated Transit Union-ATU Local #1001 in Denver, CO. We love each other’s passion for change and new adventures.” – Stanley Gronek ’83

 “We were merely acquaintances at Thunderbird, sharing a couple of classes and holding a few friends in common. Once we attended a classmate’s birthday party in Scottsdale, and I drove Bei back to campus in my car, while I was suffering a hay fever-induced severe sneezing fit. I encountered Bei’s kindness and patience for the first time that night. In 2007, I was working in Florida and Bei had a series of job interviews and career fairs in the vicinity. Fate had it that we had e-mailed prior to the first of her trips, simply to keep in touch, and I had the good sense to invite her to extend her trip and visit me in Miami. Slowly but surely, we began to grow closer. The ties deepened when she stayed with me for a few months after her graduation, while she waited for her H1-B visa to process. It’s been smooth sailing since then. We had our wedding in November 2008, then a beautiful Thunderbaby daughter born in January 2010. We are a proud Thundercouple and we often reminisce about the wonderful time we had at T-bird, and our great luck to have met there. Happy Valentine’s Day!” -Tom Randolph ’07 and Bei Rong Randolph ’07

“Caroline Stromme ‘90 and I met the first week of classes in the school cafeteria. The one thing that we had in common at that point was that each of our native countries started with the letter “N” — Norway and Nicaragua.  This year marks our 20th anniversary together. Since our first meeting at Thunderbird, we have lived in Spain, Norway, Argentina, and the United States.”  -Eduardo Conrado ’92

“Mario Lopez-Belio ‘91 and I met early on during Summer term 1991. I would walk back from the library and up the stairs to my dorm room where I would find my neighbors (Phill and Mario) sipping on cappuccinos and playing backgammon. Although we spoke occasionally, Mario and I did not go out on a first date until December — two weeks before his graduation. Following that first dinner at The Pointe and dancing at a company Christmas party we crashed, we started seeing a lot more of each other as Mario stayed in Phoenix working for Kidder Peabody. Most memorable were our long walks around campus and our occasional trips to Ray’s Pizza! In the summer of 1992, Mario was recruited by a T-bird alum for a new job in Atlanta, which was better suited to his international business ambitions. After graduation, I made frequent visits to Atlanta to visit Mario and to find an international business opportunity of my own. We were married in 1994, and have enjoyed 17 years of travel and adventures together around the world. We currently reside in Dallas, Texas where Mario is the Chief Procurement Officer for Carlson Wagonlit Travel and I am Director of Marketing with PepsiCo.” - Barbara Brennan Lopez-Belio ’92

“Helmut Kaisergruber ’88 and I met at our past employer, Eli Lilly. It was the day of my first interview there and a time slot was open, so the human resources manager asked me if I knew someone at Lilly who I could spend some 10 minutes with. Since I had heard of Helmut as a T-bird, I asked to meet him. It was only a 10- minute meeting but in that little time slot we decided to meet again for skiing in Austria! Why Austria? Helmut was about to move back to his home country and I had planned to go home over Christmas to my home town of Munich which is not far from Helmut´s home town of Linz. Great plan, but it did not work out, because of a bad flu I had caught. Helmut thought this was an excuse, especially since I denied to go to the T-bird  reunion in Bad Ischl 1990 where Helmut was part of the organizing committee. Still, we stayed in contact via the intra-company mail and some one-and-a-half years later I contacted Helmut before heading towards Oslo.  There was a congress we both attended. In Oslo, we met with some other T-birds and when I got home, I had some really nice photos taken in Oslo. I sent those to Helmut and we then finally learned to love each other during a skiing vacation more than two years later – after the first encounter of 10 minutes organized by the great human department from Eli Lilly!  Many kind regards from Vienna, where we have lived now for more than 15 years and where we have a wonderful family with our boys Moritz, 12, and Alex, 8.”  -Sabine Moeritz Kaisergruber ’89

Marcos Dutra ‘01 and I are a Thundercouple. We were already married before attending the school. Studying abroad was something both of us wanted to do and Thunderbird was a perfect match for us. Elizabeth Candia ’93 was my maid of honor and also a T-bird. She was always saying that we should go to Thunderbird due to our “global” profile. We loved to travel; we spoke three languages fluently and I already worked abroad.  Today, we live in Brazil. Marcos got a very interesting scholarship and we decided to go. It was a lovely experience.  -Milene Laube Dutra ‘00

“Rachel and Marty got to know each other through Thunderbird’s famous INTERAD program. Rachel was a semester behind Marty and was interested in doing INTERAD. In those days INTERAD was a very popular class and you had to interview to get in. “Crewing” for a previous INTERAD team was a great way to help you get in. Marty was too shy to actually ask Rachel out on a date so he slyly asked her to join his INTERAD team to assist behind the signs in a lot of the production….and the rest is history. Marty got a job in advertising in New York after graduating in 1979. Rachel then moved to New York in 1980 and got a job in research and planning with an ad agency. They’ve been together in New York ever since. They married in 1986 and have two children, Gaby, 14, and Jackson, 11, and live in Scarsdale, New York.  Marty is a Managing Director at Euro RSCG Tonic, a fully integrated ad agency focusing on consumer health and wellness brands. Rachel worked in the New York ad world for 17 years before starting her own consulting practice. Two years ago she launched Video Chat Network, a faster, cheaper and better alternative to traditional focus groups (www.videochatnetwork.net).”  - Rachel Geltman ’79  and  
Marty Susz ’79

“In the summer of 1993, I was in my last semester at T-bird.  On the first day of Professor Ramaswamy’s international marketing class, I saw a young woman walk in late and sit down in the back row. I was smitten at first sight.  I was sitting in the front row that day.  Each class, I moved back a row or two.  Eventually, I ended up sitting behind her.  Finally one day I pretended that she had poked me in the eye to actually meet her.  She “tutored” me through Professor Ramaswamy’s class that summer.  Over the years, we’ve gone back to visit that very room several times.  It’s since been remodeled on the inside, but looks exactly the same on the outside.  I’d like to think the same is true of us . . . .That summer, she was charming, intelligent, and stunning.  Eighteen years and four kids later, she’s still all that — and my rock, and best friend. Years later, she told me tried to drop the class for the first week or two, but for whatever reason couldn’t.  Thank you Thunderbird for whatever administrative rules you had in place that summer!”   -Lawrence Brown ’93 and Kelly Tseng Brown ‘94

“I met Rene von Rautenkranz ’88 in Spanish class on campus in 1987. It was not love at first sight. But there is something about small group conversation classes and demanding teachers that create bonds between people when least expected. Professor Finny roared like clockwork at 7:30 a.m. to hail the laggards to Spanish grammar class. By then, Rene had already carried a fresh coffee across the rugby pitch from Sun Creek to Dorm D as my wakeup call.  Senora Este’s insistent blue eyes evoked a commitment to excellent pronunciation which required hours of dialogue practice.  Rene threw in good food and wine during mano a mano practice sessions. I’m not sure if it was the barber shop dialogue or the directions -to- the -train station dialogue when I first decided that maybe Rene wasn’t so bad after all. If the truth is told though, it was probably when he invited me to join a group of students on exchange from EBS to the last river rafting run of the season in the Grand Canyon, when I caved. Over our 20 years together the adventure has continued with moves across the globe and Thunderbird has stayed close to our hearts along the way. In Asia since many years now, Michele and Rene have faithfully raised their Thunderchild Hary, (now a student at UBC, Vancouver) according to the legendary “mystique” of Thunderbirds. UBC’s mascot is even the Thunderbird!” -Michele Kovach von Rautenkranz ’88

“Meredith Savill ‘00 and I met, where else…the pub.  I was a bartender and part- time rugby player and she was spending time with her friends.  Meredith would usually only order Diet Coke and the occasional kamikaze, (yes, one drink for the whole night).  After dating for a while, we went to Chicago to visit her family.  We graduated in May 2000 and moved back to Chicago.  On June 22, 2002 we tied the knot.  We welcomed our son, Ryan, to the family in 2004.  We now live in Geneva, Illinois.” -Paul Savill ’00

“Robert “Bob” Holmes ‘77 and I met the first night at the mixer in January 1976. I actually walked up to him (I knew he was checking me out) and introduced myself.  Thirty-five years and four children later, we are still together. When I decided to attend Thunderbird, I told myself that this one time I did not want a boyfriend and I would concentrate on my studies. Glad I did not follow my own advice.  Our best man was a fellow T-bird Tom Ryan ’77.”   -Janet Smith Holmes ’77

“Jim and Katie met during orientation in fall semester 1998. We both lived near the front pool of Sagetree apartments. We became friends over the course of BBQs by the pool and playing golf.  We developed a strong friendship, but never dated each other while on campus. Our long distance relationship blossomed while Katie was at Summer Semester in Archamps, France.  The long distance relationship continued with various cities until we married in 2001 and settled down together in Denver, Colorado.  What’s special is that a sound marriage was built on a strong friendship. It’s great to be married to a best friend.”  -Katie Miller Kellen ’00 and James “Jim” Kellen ‘99

“Love at first sight. It sounds hokey, but I knew within minutes of meeting Jason Armistead ‘96, that he was “the one.”  The Monday after the IPE midterm, we were sitting with a bunch of friends discussing how we were all sure that we had failed the test.  During the conversation, one of the guys made a comment that was not meant to be funny, but I found it hilarious. Not wanting to laugh out loud, I clamped my mouth shut and tried to avert my eyes. That was when I noticed Jason doing the same thing.  I introduced myself and promptly invited myself over to his dorm room to watch “Must-See” TV on Thursday night, while he was out playing basketball.  The first night, after his game, he spent two hours asking me all about my home state  of Montana.  I was horribly homesick, and to talk about home was like being home.  More importantly, I realized that he was a good-looking, polite, smart, interesting guy – and I was hooked.  We married in September 1997.  Fifteen years later we are still going strong! Best of all, we have an adventurous 3-year-old and future T-bird — Jake!” -Erika Wolfgram Armistead ’96

“Many years ago and once upon a time, Daniel met Gerry at Thunderbird, where both had goals of international careers and a great admiration for the ideals of Thunderbird where the education was practical and the professors were actually experienced in the field rather than solely academically directed.  The school was small enough and we would live on campus and share great friendships for our lifetimes with our fellow students and with each other.  Both had a great friendship and common interests.  Along with Jim, Linda, Laura, George, Bill, Fernando, Rodrigo, Steve, Stephen, Ken, Tom and other classmates, we all made our way and developed long-term friendships.  Gerry and Daniel traveled to visit Gerry’s family in Idaho, and Gerry also visited California and shared times with friends and family. Both of them were from California farming families. After Thunderbird, it was time for everyone to find a job. For Daniel and Gerry, it was off to Madrid, Spain to perfect Gerry’s Spanish.  Daniel found time after some months and a year of teaching to go to Europe for six months. Once again he and Gerry enjoyed their mutual interests and traveled to Spain, Morocco, Switzerland and other places until Gerry decided to go to Iran to visit a friend after a trip to Kenya, while Daniel continued his journey in Europe, Israel and the Turkey and back to Europe again.  Daniel would keep up with Gerry through postcards sent to her family address in Idaho, while he resided and worked in areas of South America, Southeast Asia and West Africa. Never hearing from Gerry over the years, Daniel still sent postcards to Idaho– not knowing that Gerry had settled in Texas and had married a man she met in Houston. In Texas, Gerry had found work in the international banking field and was rooming with Laura, who was a fellow T-bird from South Dakota. Laura later married George who was a fellow classmate.  Daniel and Gerry stayed in contact with many classmates who had settled all over the world, including Jim who married his classmate Linda soon after graduation.  Many of our classmates stayed in contact and to this date are friends.  One day, out of the blue, and after Daniel moved back to the states, Jim and Linda called and suggested we meet in Glendale for a reunion. That’s when Daniel and Gerry met again and fell in love. Gerry had been widowed for some years and Daniel was working in California, when they reunited in Arizona at Thunderbird.  Daniel and Gerry remain together, living in Houston, both working and enjoying common interests and friends.  The story is not over yet, as Daniel’s nephew is now attending Thunderbird, and we are happy for this legacy.”  -Geraldine Gurley ’70 and Daniel Melott ‘70

When Thunderbirds graduate, they head out into the world with fresh knowledge, improved business skills and enhanced cultural awareness, but some T-birds also leave with new-found love – and these are what we call Thundercouples.

They are married couples who are both graduates of Thunderbird. Some met before they arrived and others found their lifelong partners right here on campus.

In celebration of Valentine’s Day — which is held annually on February 14 in the U.S. — dozens of Thundercouples have shared their stories of love.

Some are funny and some are sweet, but all of them are filled with the sense of adventure and mystique that make Thunderbird special.

Their stories will be posted every weekday until Valentine’s Day, so don’t forget to check back daily.

We hope that you will enjoy reading their stories as much as they have loved writing them!

“It was June 4, 1975. It was on the first day of school, during the first class and first English placement test. Javier said, “What was the answer? Loose or Lose?” Wendi “Ching-Hwei” said, “Loose with two Os.”  Javier was thinking, “I have never met a Chinese person before.” Wendi was thinking, “I have never seen a Spaniard before.” If you believe it, it was love at first sight. Over 35 years later, we live up to the good reputation of a truly global T-bird. We have moved house and country 15 times and acquired a few more languages on the way! And on the first Valentine’s Day, Javier asked Wendi to marry him. Two grown sons later, we all think of this as priceless. Javier is currently President, MasterCard Europe and Global Accounts.” – Ching-Hwei “Wendi” Wu Perez ’76 and Francisco “Javier” Perez ‘77

“Yes, kids, it’s possible to meet your spouse at the Pub. At least that’s where I found mine, back in Fall 1990 when I was holding up the bar waiting for a friend and Andrew Kho ‘90 walked in. We were wearing the same shirt (he likes me to point out that I was wearing a man’s shirt, not the other way around). Once relationships with our respective German romantic partners fizzled, things moved pretty fast and we were engaged a year later. As we approach our 19th anniversary, proud parents to two daughters, our motto is “Together 20 years, 17 of them happy.” We still love to travel, even if only across the San Francisco Bay to eat gumbo with our T-bird friends in the area, and are raising children who can engage in prolonged usage of fake international accents. Thunderbird: if not for you and the conversation-initiating qualities of beer, we’d never be together.  Andrew is a VP at Wells Fargo in the Clean Tech lending team, and Nancy is a writer who blogs regularly at www.normalarkey.com. They live in Oakland, CA.” –Nancy Davis Kho ’91

“Imagine if you will, looking through the Thunderbird gate and seeing a stream of buses bringing 250 excited eight-year-olds onto campus. The kids have T-bird Passports in hand and are ready to tour the world: trying new foods, learning new languages, and experiencing the friendship of T-bird Ambassadors. The only problem…the busses are 40 minutes early! This was the key bonding moment when Jeffrey Stangl ‘91 and I became a team. Over 20 years later, we still are.  At Thunderbird, I was co-chairman of the Outreach Committee (75 dedicated T-birds whose joy was sharing cultural insights with school children).  In a spark of inspiration, we convinced the Inter-fest council to allow “our kids” to attend the event. Jeffrey was a key player in the organizing committee. He proved his cool-headed worth on that critical moment, when he calmly whispered in my ear, “Delegate Loren, delegate.” His composed, organized (“finance”) nature has continued to prove a great counter-balance to my creative, chaotic (“marketing”) personality. Through the decade we spent building a business and family in Indonesia, to the current struggles we face completing our PhDs here in New Zealand (while raising teen-agers), Jeffrey and I have always been a team.” – Loren Reed Stangl ’91  

“I arrived at Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport in August 1985 loaded with luggage – but without a firm plan on how to get to Glendale. I had missed my mini-bus. Within a few minutes, a handsome young guy (Robert van Tilburg ’86) with just a duffel bag and a beat-up backpack sauntered up and asked where I was going. “You’ve probably never heard of it,” I replied. “Thunderbird.”  Not only had he heard of it, but he was heading there as well.  His scheduled van had an extra seat, so off we sped, along with a gaggle of retirees going to Sun City, our van’s first stop.  Along the way, I chatted with the retirees, too embarrassed to say much to the young man.  But I couldn’t keep my eyes off him.  Finally, I gathered the courage to ask him the basic questions that would come to exemplify so much about Thunderbird:  Where are you from? Where are you really from?   On my first night in Glendale, I wrote my mom a letter. It began like this: “I’ve met the man I’m going to marry. His name is Bob Tilberg.” Twenty-two months later, my mom read that letter at our rehearsal dinner.  We’ve been married now for 23 years, all the time thankful for Thunderbird (and that missed mini-bus)!” -Cheryl Wilson van Tilburg ‘86

“I met Michelle Ginther ‘82 because she had a German class with one of my roommates at the time.  We would all meet after German class to hang out.  Of course I noticed how pretty she was, but I also discovered how good it felt to be around her.  Well, I guess she felt the same because we spent more and more time together and 28 years later we still feel good around each other.  We got married in 1985 and now have two incredible kids, one in college and one about to start college.  I learned a lot at Thunderbird from books and classes and have a lot of great memories, but the greatest “gift” I got from Thunderbird was meeting Michelle.” -Jerry O’Donnell ’82

“One thing about Thunderbird is no matter how fascinating you think your global experience has been up to that point, you will always run into someone who can top it.  Luckily, I did. When I met my future wife Kim, it was towards the end of the Guadalajara semester.  These were good times.  The peso was in the dump, and you could go out for a night of serious eating and drinking with $20 and return with change.  I had been backpacking around Asia and Latin America, but she had lived five years in Africa.  We were apparently both impressed with each other, and knew it was right from the start.  We wasted no time: a pre-honeymoon right away in Michoacán, proposal, marriage, and pregnancy within two years- in that order. Twenty-seven years later, we are a globetrotting family of five.  As a family, we’ve traveled in Ethiopia, Malawi, Zambia, United Arab Emirates, Lebanon, Eastern Europe, and much of Latin America. We are transitioning to our second home in Central America, where we look forward to dipping future grandchildren’s toes in the ocean.  What started at Thunderbird with a convergence and unification of two global journeys shall be carried forward through future generations.” – John Macdonald ’83 and Kimberly Walsh Macdonald ’84

“George Crofts ‘76 and I were introduced over the lunch in the old T-bird dining hall, just a couple of days after arriving on campus in early June 1975.  I enjoyed his sense of humor right from the start, and learned we had quite a few shared interests and values. This was hardly surprising, given we had both separately found our way to Thunderbird after undergrad studies in International Relations (that included a year abroad for each of us.) Together we studied, attended dances on the quad, jogged around the (former) airfield, made a lot of great friends, formed 50 percent of the French Club officer team, and sought post-grad employment.  While I worked Friday and Saturday evenings as a waitress for Ralph’s Pizzeria, across the street from campus, George put in extra study time on erstwhile “date nights”. He capped those sessions with a slice of pizza and a visit with me, before we headed off to the Pub.  We were married two years later in Portland, Oregon, and soon after moved to southern California.  George has been with Boeing most of this time, and I have worked as a CPA, first for Arthur Andersen, then for other companies. We have two wonderful adult children, of whom one, Julia, is a proud 2010 Thunderbird grad.  Among other special characteristics of my husband, I really enjoy our interesting conversations about our shared passions for world events and culture, past and present.” - Barbara Ackley Crofts ’76

“In 1990 Nola Gutzman ‘91 and I met at a friend’s Lambada party at Thunderbird. I was in my last semester and she was in her first. After graduation I went back to my home country, Norway, to work. The job market was tough so I chose to backpack around the world and kept writing letters to Nola. On Hawaii I called her and asked if she would join me and we have been together ever since. We worked four years in Frankfurt, Germany, married in Wichita, KS and moved to Hagerstown, MD in 1996 where we had our first child.  We both wanted to live in the mountains so after two years I moved my job with Action Products, Inc. to Victor, ID, 45 minutes from Jackson Hole, WY. Fifteen years later, I work for the same company — the last three years as their V.P. Business Development finding new markets for their ultra soft, synthetic rubber.  Nola is currently the Director of Marketing & Advertising for Idaho and Western Montana at Powder Mountain Press, and a School Board Trustee Vice-Chair at Teton County School District. We have three sporty kids who love where they live!”     -Michael Bredal ’90

“My husband Peter Van Niman ‘93 and I met on the first day of Thunderbird Orientation…even if he doesn’t remember it.  New students were gathered together when the facilitator said, “Turn to the person next to you and get to know them.”  I remember that this person next to me had the most incredible blue eyes and warm smile.  Later, as we hiked Camelback Mountain as part of orientation, he shared his water with me.  He definitely made a good first impression and we became close friends.  However, ours was not immediately a romantic relationship.   We had both ended up in Seattle after graduation and were spending an inordinate amount of time together.  As we spent yet another day together, he loaned me his shirt to stay warm and it occurred to me that I really liked wearing it – and damn if it didn’t smell good too!  It had taken three years for us to both be at the same point in our lives and realize what we had in each other.  Nineteen years from meeting, we have been married 11 years and have three beautiful boys. I married my best friend.  -Tara Graham Van Niman ’93

“It helps to realize in the early 1990s I was still stylistically trapped in the 1980s! I went out for a permanent — the first since arriving on campus. Maybe I did not fully appreciate dry weather’s impact.  I knew my hair seemed “bigger” than normal, but I wasn’t worried. It was Saturday afternoon; I parked on campus and no one was around. I thought I could easily get to my dorm and tame my hair. Almost to safety, I rounded the corner and saw Tom Evans ’93 on his way to the laundry. The sun was behind him so I couldn’t accurately see his expression. I decided to act as if everything was normal – that I looked no different than the prior day’s Cost Accounting class with Wally Reed. Tom stopped dead. He said only, “Are you happy?” to effectively express his true thoughts. Some T-birds still remember me as “the girl with the big hair” from that day. We still laugh about this. This comical moment in spring 1992 led to dating later that summer. We were married two years after graduation and sometimes take our 8-year-old son Stephen to First Tuesdays.”  -Lisa  Homiak Evans ’93