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Spring 2001 Update
From the Acting Director-Christopher Kinsella

Congratulations to Dee Dee and Rich Wolff on the birth of their baby girl, Emerson, who was born on February 2, 2001.

Congratulations to Dee Dee Wolff who was promoted to Assistant Dean and Director of the Kellstadt Graduate School of Business.

The sixth IMF graduation was held on March 22, 2001 at the Chicago Athletic Association. The 31 graduates celebrated their accomplishments with over 160 guests.

Dr. Arthur Kraft, Dean of the Kellstadt Graduate School of Business, led the graduation ceremony. He introduced guest speakers Mr. Jim Jenness, Chair of the College of Commerce Advisory Council, and Ms. Rebecca Nakamura, elected speaker from the graduating class. Dr. Thomas Donley was presented with the second annual MBA/IMF Professor of the Year Award by graduating student, Riaz Baxamusa.

Fr. John Minogue, President of DePaul University, presented the graduating students with their diploma covers and Dean Kraft presented each student a gift from the IMF program.

From the Assistant Dean & Placement Director- Blair Sanford

The Class of 2001 has accepted employment opportunities ranging from Associate with Baxter's Global Marketing Rotational Program (Chicago) to Manager, Sales Analysis with McDonald's (Chicago) to Associate with JP Morgan Chase Private Bank (New York). 55% of the class had offers by graduation and 48% of the class had accepted opportunities. Salaries averaged $78,100 and 69% of those accepting offers received sign-on bonuses. Eight new companies interviewed on campus during fall 2000 including BP Amoco (Chicago) and GMAC Financial Services (Detroit).

Winter quarter was a busy one with the continuation of job interviewing, the beginning of internship interviewing and a successful executive speakers series that included Mike Paxton, CEO of Sunbeam Health & Safety, Paul O'Connor, Senior Vice President of Howe Barnes Investments and Jim Frische, CEO of Sony Disc Manufacturing.

Spring events on the schedule include: April 20: Bill Parr, Director-Enbrel, Global Strategic Marketing, Wyeth-Ayerst Global Pharmaceuticals May 4: MBA/IMF Alumni Panel May 18: Louise Burke, VP of Marketing, New York Mercantile Exchange. Talks are open to IMF alumni.

Also, a special thanks to IMF alumni, who participated in the winter quarter alumni panel: Kristen Rich (Ion Consulting), Tina Schroeder (Arthur Andersen), Chris Kelly (Accenture) and Jose de Francisco Lopez (Lucent Technologies).

Alumni Profile:

1. Name: Jill Grafflin (Class of 1999)

2. Occupation: Director of Installment Lending, Customer. Acquisition, a small business services division of American Express Company.

3. Location: New York, NY

4. Recent accomplishments: In 2000 I launched two new card products for two different customer segments. I just started a new job at American Express a few weeks so my biggest accomplishments are still ahead of me.

5. Advice to current IMF students: When you're looking for a job, invest time in preparing yourself. Get objective feedback on your resume, your interview style, etc.; preferably from people who do hiring in your field. It'll save you the frustration of learning the hard way - not getting the results you want.

6. Most humbling experience: Recently, it was not being able to communi- cate my simplest needs while traveling in Spain. Prior to that, it was probably during my internship at McDonald's in France. Although it's an American company, the unspoken assumptions about how to do business were a real challenge.

7. Favorite class and why: Having had a marketing background prior to the IMF program, I really enjoyed all my finance classes, particularly Corporate Finance and Money & Banking.

8. A current book I'm reading: From Dawn to Decadence: From 1500 to the Present by Jacques Barzun.

9. Interests/hobbies: Cooking, traveling, reading and improving my French.

10. E-mail address: Jill.E.Grafflin@aexp.com

11. Personal Philosophy: Prioritize! (Both at work and in finding balance between your job and your life.)

Alumni Update

Fred Rizzo ('00) accepted a position as an equity analyst with Kelton International in London, England.

Jose de Francisco Lopez ('98) has transferred to Lucent Technologies Naperville, IL office and taken the position of Global Product Manager.

Kelly Vacca ('99) began her new company in August and is the owner of Fun Factory (a children's activity & daycare center).

Diane Riff ('98) has accepted a job with Motorola as Senior Engineering Project Manager in the Network Products Division.

Monaporn Jaovisidha ('99) started working with PwC Tax and Legal Service (TLS) on the first working day.

Faculty Profile - Professor Mike Miller

Dr. Michael S. Miller is Associate Professor of Economics at DePaul University, where he has been teaching for 21 years. His expertise is in business conditions analysis. Dr. Miller earned his Ph.D. in economics from the University of Pittsburgh in 1980. In addition to pursuing his teaching and research interests, Dr. Miller spent five years as Associate Dean of Academic Programs in DePaul's College of Commerce. He was recipient of the university's Excellence in Teaching Award in 1991. Professor Miller has been quoted in the Chicago Sun-Times, The Wall Street Journal's OpinionJournal.com, the Asian Times, the Christian Science Monitor, and the Daily Herald, He has also been interviewed on local radio and television stations in Chicago about economic conditions and Federal Reserve policy.

Recently, Professor Miller has been doing research on an economic model of the assessment of learning within a university and starting in July of this year, he will be the Chairman of the Economics Department. Aside from his academic life, Professor Miller spends time with his hobbies such as woodworking and astronomy.

Professor Miller will be teaching IMF students again this spring quarter and recommends currently enrolled students as well as alums to "Read. Read everyday. At least one newspaper, and as time permits, a magazine article, a novel, a book on cosmology. Get a hobby. It distracts your mind away from the woes of work, and prepares you to be active after your career."

To include your new job or family changes in a future Update, please e-mail
Christopher Kinsella, Acting Director of the MBA/IMF program.