In last year’s match, the alumni team “Old Boys” fell short 29-8, but had a good time playing and even traveled to Iceland the same year to compete.

“The great thing about Rugby Alumni Weekend is the gathering of rugby alumni from the 1970s through 2012 getting together to swap lies about how great we were when we played at Thunderbird,” said Thunderbird Alumni Rugby Association leader Chuck Hamilton ’91. “When 80 or more Old Boys show up, you might have to bring your hip waders.”

The weekend’s activities include golf outings, a night at the pub, a baseball game, skeet shooting, a social with the alumni and student rugby players, a rugby banquet – and, of course, the annual match.

Leader of the student rugby team Morgan Siegal said he is looking forward to seeing the alumni back on campus. Siegal helped his team reach a victory against the Old Boys last year and believes the team will come out strong this year – especially with players Clay Adair and Elliot Rossbach.

“Since I’ve started at Thunderbird, I’ve made some powerful connections with a lot of the rugby alumni guys,” Siegal said. “Naturally, I’m looking forward to seeing my friends and introducing current members to our alumni to impress upon them the importance of this tradition and relationship.”

Hamilton said that rugby tours always bring the team closer together, despite the fact that there are more than three decades of alumni. Following Rugby Alumni Weekend, the team will prepare for a Croatia-Montenegro tour in 2013.

For more information on Rugby Alumni Weekend, contact Chuck Hamilton ‘91 at chuck.notlimah@gmail.com

Nearly 50 T-birds and other guests enjoyed an evening of light appetizers, a silent auction, drinks and great company during the Chicago Alumni Chapter’s annual holiday party on December 8, 2012.

“The event was a great success,” said Lee Schlesinger ’01. “A special thanks goes to those who donated items as well as a number of people who volunteered to call alumni.”

Schlesinger and chapter leadership invited T-birds to their events through a special phone campaign and a concerted effort to reach more people through e-mail communications.

A number of new T-birds also shared their contact information and expressed interest in attending future events, Schlesinger said.

The event was held at Webster’s Wine Bar in a private room. Silent auction items included toys, Cubs tickets, wine and more. Donated items were provided by Lee Schlesinger ‘01, Tom Kostal ‘99, Scott Altman ‘86, Keith Olson ‘77 and Heidi Saunders ‘99.  

Thunderbird would like to extend a special thank-you to the Chicago Chapter leaders for their time and commitment to making this event a success – and for sharing these great photos!

Six T-birds gathered Dec. 15, 2011 at a bar called the Duck and Cover located at the U.S. Embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan.

The group called its gathering T-bird Thursday and hopes to make it a monthly tradition.

We’d like to extend a special thank you to Pamela Rager ‘99, Executive Director of the 10,000 Women Program, who works for Thunderbird at the American University in Afghanistan, for organizing this event and sharing this photo. We’d also like to thank Amanda Fong ‘07 for hosting the group at the U.S. Embassy and for snapping this photo.

Simon Hakim ’75

Richard Gibson ’78 was recently appointed Senior Vice President of Global Sales and Support for Iveda Solutions. Gibson has 30 years’ experience in IT, networks and security. He has held leadership positions in large companies such as IBM and Motorola.

Bruce Duff ’82 has been promoted to Chief Executive officer of ARCOS. He succeeds ARCOS Founder Mitch McLeod, who held the CEO role since creating the software company in 2005. For the last three years, Duff has been Vice President of Sales. Duff has more than 25 years of experience in the software industry, including assignments across North America, Europe and Australia.

Ann McCartney ’82 has been named Senior Vice President of Private Banking in the North Scottsdale, Ariz. office for Enterprise Bank & Trust, the banking subsidiary of Enterprise Financial Services Corp. McCartney has more than 25 years of experience in the financial services industry.

Phil Schlesinger ’82 has recently been named Vice President of Marketing for CEA Global Education, which is located in Tempe, Ariz. and markets and delivers study abroad programs to U.S. and Canadian university students. Most recently, Schlesinger was Associate Vice President, Marketing for Thunderbird.

James Lazor ’87 has recently been appointed Executive Director for Alpine Ontario. Lazor brings with him more than two decades of sports marketing and business skills as well as ski industry management experience.

Rennie Young ’87 has accepted the position of Vice President Purchasing and Supply Chain Management for Stant Corp. Young earned his Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from the University of Hartford before graduating from Thunderbird.

Martha Van Gelder ’88 has been appointed Director of the Terry J. Lundgren Center for Retailing and the PetSmart Professor of Practice, an endowed chair in the Norton School of Family and Consumer Sciences, located at the University of Arizona. Van Gelder brings more than 20 years of high-level leadership in business growth and development for several companies with a global reach, including Gaiam, Sesame Workshop, The Walt Disney Company and L’Oréal.

Lisa Woods Ploeg ’89 recently joined MARY KAY as Senior International Development Specialist in Dallas, Texas. Ploeg spent the past decade as an adjunct professor for Maastricht University, the Netherlands and in the U.S. at Baylor University, Texas Christian University and Texas Woman’s University in Texas, where she taught marketing and global business.

Bryant Bell ’93 has recently joined iCONECT Development as the Senior Director, Product Marketing. Bell has more than 20 years of experience in marketing and product management. Prior to joining ICONECT, he served as Director of Product Marketing at EMC and held senior marketing and product management positions at CT Summation, Adobe Systems, Computer Associates and others.

Denise Simpson ’94 is the new Vice President of Marketing for Personal. Simpson comes to the company as an innovator in online marketing and driving massive engagement with online products. She has held senior marketing positions with AOL, Ancestry.com and Washington Post Digital.

Sarah Perez ’91 was recently named Executive Director of MBA executive programs for UNC-Chapel Hill’s Kenan-Flagler Business School. Perez joins Kenan-Flagler from Florida International University where she was executive director of its executive and professional MBA program.

John Williams ’91 has recently been named Chief Financial Officer of StratCorp. Williams has over 15 years of investment banking and corporate finance experience. Most recently, Williams was the CFO of UNITY Mobile. Prior to working for UNITY Mobile, he was a Vice President with Lehman Brother’s Mergers & Acquisitions Group.

Steve Hilbert ’07 has recently been hired as Wealth Management Consultant for Rainier Group. Previously, Hilbert served as Vice President within Private Wealth Management at J.P. Morgan Chase. He has also served as Vice President and Financial Consultant for Charles Schwab. Hilbert is also an Alumni Chapter Leader for the Washington T-bird alumni chapter.

Megan Ronk ’07 is the new Public Information Officer for the Idaho Department of Commerce. Ronk spent the last five years as Executive Director of the Idaho Meth Project, where she raised more than $8 million for a statewide anti-drug campaign. She was also a policy advisor to former Gov. Dirk Kempthorne.

The group – largely Tucson Alumni Chapter members – enjoyed some light appetizers before gathering in a circle along with Special Assistant to the President Gbemi Disu ‘06.

During the informal presentation, President Cabrera provided an update of the school, shared his Vision 2020 strategy and closed with a question and answer session. Two prospective students also attended the event to learn more about Thunderbird.

See more photos here.

If you didn’t register for any of the 11-11-11 events, but would like to return to campus and reunite with your former classmates, you still can.

We received approval to expand attendance to Last Pub Night (Thurs, Nov. 10) and Margaritas & Beer on the Tower Lawn (Sat, Nov.12) There are NO TICKETS for these events, so if you aren’t registered, you will be admitted on a first-come, first-serve basis until we reach capacity.

Please arrive early. Last Pub Night doors open at 7 p.m. and Margaritas and Beer on the Tower Lawn begins at 4 p.m.

Registrations for the Tower Celebration, Regional Night and the Farewell brunch have reached capacity and remain closed.

All events provide a great opportunity to gather with T-birds and I hope you can join us! I look forward to meeting you in person. If you have any questions, you can post them here or reach me directly at Katie.Mayer@thunderbird.edu.

The panel, moderated by Thunderbird President Ángel Cabrera, Ph.D., featured three speakers who focused on international market assessment, finding and building partner relationships and leveraging cultural divides. The event is the primary fundraiser for the chapter’s annual scholarship and raised more than $2,000 this year.

“It was perfect and organized flawlessly,” said panelist Rudy Vetter, Senior Vice President for International Business Development with the Greater Phoenix Economic Council. “It was really fun because the group was receptive and active.”

The event was organized by a committee which included Phoenix Alumni Chapter President Mike Cottrell ’07, Richard Hasenpflug ’68, student Christian Lorentzen, David Decker ’07, Alden Ulrich and Lisa MacCollum ’97.

Cottrell said the focus of this year’s event was to help attendees understand the real-world requirements of going global.

“Whether as an entrepreneur or an executive seeking expansion of a company in an international capacity, the process of sourcing development, manufacturing or distribution partners, analyzing a market or crossing a cultural divide – all are key to operating in a global capacity,” Cottrell said.

Attendee Bill Miller, Managing Director of Mergers & Acquisitions Clear Growth Capital, said the event was interesting and worthwhile. “We Americans get so into our own worlds we forget the rest of the world does not do business as we do,” he said.

See more photos here

T-birds find themselves in all sorts of memorable situations around the world. The Thunderbird Stories Project, started by students, was inspired by these stories.  

On 11.11.11 we are launching our first edition Thunderbird Stories Project: Volume 1 – Tales of Global Adventure. This book collects 22 stories from T-birds around the world, encompassing tales past and present.

Join T-birds as they float down the Niger River, journey into the heart of India, see North Korea through the eyes of a local, become a patient at a local Chinese hospital, meet a Bedouin elder, and much more.

“One of the best parts of my job is meeting Thunderbird students and alumni everywhere I travel. This book shows why.” – Ángel Cabrera, Ph.D., Thunderbird President

The book will be available both on Amazon and through the ThunderShop. All profits go towards funding Thunderbird scholarships. This collection of stories has been a labor of love, and we hope that you will not only share this news with friends and colleagues, but will champion the book to help us make this launch a great success.

Brad Roof ’73

Mark Emkes ’76 was named in dnj.com as the keynote speaker at Middle Tennessee State University’s Economic Outlook Conference. Emkes is retired CEO and President of Bridgestone Americas and the current commissioner of Finance and Administration for the State of Tennessee.

Bill Valentino ’85 was named in asiahealthcareblog.com as a speaker in a Beijing Healthcare Forum event. Valentino gave a presentation entitled “An Overview of Corporate Social Responsibility in Pharmaceuticals.” Valentino is a recognized expert on sustainability, social entrepreneurship, social innovation and CSR. He was the VP of Bayer’s Corporate Social Responsibility China and worked for the company for 24 years until his retirement in July 2011.

Jon Kondo ’93 was recently published in Business 2 Community. His article is entitled “Why Finance is the Last SaaS Frontier.” Kondo is President and CEO at Host Analytics. As CEO, he has led the company to record growth, partnerships and industry accolades.

Gordon Smith ’96 was recently featured in Reuters in an article entitled “Insight: Chase’s card chief rebuilds business part by part.” Smith is Credit Card Chief for JPMorgan Chase. He joined the company in 2007 after 26 years with American Express.

Marty Grtiz ’01 was recently featured in Finance & Commerce in an article entitled “Pizzeria owner and solar business find help at SBDC.” Gritz owns five Domino’s franchises in southeastern Minnesota and Iowa. He bought his first store in 2005. He currently employs 84 people and plans to add 10 more in the next 12 months due to sales increasing dramatically.   

DeAnn Flora ’11 was named in the Huntington County TAB after graduating from Thunderbird with an MBA. She is employed by Adesa Los Angeles as an e-commerce manager.