Welcome to the first newsletter of 2012! We hope everyone is having a great start to 2012. Here

on campus we’re just winding down from: winter quarter, enjoying spring break and gearing up for the semester conversion in the fall.

Throughout the newsletter you’re going to see articles featuring our freshman internship placements, current student & alumni spotlights and news as well as a new website launched by the alumni of the Lindner Honors-PLUS program.

We will be sending the newsletter out quarterly (March, June, September & December) and all material should be sent to Ashley McFarland (Ashley.McFarland@uc.edu).

M A R C H , 2012 E D I T I O N

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1 | Greeting

2 | Summer Internships

3 | Lindner Honors-PLUS Grad

5 | Website

6 | Items of Interest

8 | Internship Spotlight: ESPN

9 | Village Life Outreach

11 | Alumni Spotlight

12 | Alumni News

UC Carl H. Lindner Honors-PLUS business.uc.edu/honorsplus

Editor | Designer: Ashley McFarland

The Carl H. Lindner Honor-PLUS newsletter is published 4 times a year. No part of this newsletter may be reproduced without prior permission

of the editor. Copyright ©2012 University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH 45221-0020. All rights reserved.

2 C A R L H . L I N D N E R H O N O R S P L U S

LHP freshmen are required to complete a summer internship which typically runs from mid-June to mid-September, however, with the transition to semesters this fall, summer internships will run mid-June to mid-August.

Internships offer our students several advantages including an early introduction to their area of interest, exposure to professional protocol within the business community and valuable networking opportunities. In addition, each student is assigned a mentor from upper-level management within their organization to partner with us in the student’s personal and professional development.

During the fall and winter quarters, I was busy preparing the freshmen for their summer internship interviews which took place February 6-17, 2012.

Twenty of our corporate partners participated in our internåship program providing over 30 quality positions.

Summer InternshipsBY JUDY MAGAZINE ASSISTANT DIRECTOR CARL H. LINDNER HONORS-PLUS

On behalf of the Carl H. Lindner Honors-PLUS program, I would like to reiterate my thanks to all our summer internship participants. Without your ongoing support, our freshmen would not have access to these extraordinary opportunities that keep them several steps ahead of their competition!

Christina Beer - GE Aviation (IT)

Meghan Cappel - The Nielsen Company (Marketing)

Haley Coleman - PwC (Tax)

Taylor Ehrman - E&Y (Accounting)

Andre Elkins - Paycor (Marketing)

Betsy Emmert - SparkPeople (Marketing)

Kruti Gandhi - Samtec (Marketing)

John Girardot - Great American Insurance Group (Accounting)

Alex Glavan - Johnson Investment Counsel (Finance)

Hannah Greene - Ohio National Financial Services (Accounting)

Carolyn Johnson - GE Aviation (IT)

Andrew Kendall - General Cable (Finance)

Melissa Lower - GE Aviation (Industrial Management)

Ryan Montgomery - American Financial Group (Accounting)

Neil Mullen - E&Y (Accounting)

Tyler Noel - GE Aviation (OM)

Ben Robinson - CincyTech (Finance)

Jack Stewart - Grant Thornton (Accounting)

Danielle Treft - PwC (Audit)

Tim Weil - Samtech (Industrial Management)

Ryan Welch - Morgan Stanley (Finance)

Christina Whitaker - The Nielsen Company (Marketing)

Josh Willman - Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center (Finance)

Below is a list of the final summer internship placements:

L to R: Jack Stewart, Hannah Green, Hayley Coleman & Neil Mullen

M A R C H 2012 3

Eleven years ago, I was preparing to enter the University of Cincinnati’s College of Business and Carl H. Lindner Honors-PLUS Class of 2005. A lot has happened in the last eleven years -- from moving in to the fourth floor of Daniel’s Hall with twenty-five strangers to flying home from Europe with twenty-five close friends and from graduating and moving to Charlotte by my self to having a family in Boston and watching my son take his first steps -- but today life has come full circle and I’m preparing to re-enter the classroom as part of Harvard Business School’s Class of 2013.

After walking down the aisle of the Shoe with my diploma in hand then joining my classmates for one final college memory on the famous Honors-PLUS boat cruise, I packed my bags, flew to Charlotte, North Carolina, and began my investment banking career in the Real Estate Investment Banking Group at Banc of America Securities. A short time later I was gaining first-hand experience in business and finance. I had the opportunity to travel the Northeast pricing a stock offering for a New York City-based real estate finance company, to be a part of the team that advised on the sale of a $3.0 billion assisted living REIT in Canada, and to advise on the valuation and sale of a $2.0 billion real estate portfolio that was part of a large energy company in the South. Life was busy. Or should I say, work was busy, as not much “life” happens when you are working 80+ hours a week. Although I liked my colleagues, enjoyed what I was doing,

and was learning more than I could have ever fathomed, I was not happy. I knew I had no long-term interest in a career in real estate or investment banking and, more importantly, I knew I wanted to be closer to my girlfriend at the time, Mary Kate, who was living in Boston.

A year after starting at Banc of America, I resigned because, like Good Will Hunting, “I had to go see about a girl”. I re-packed my bags, bought a one way ticket, and moved to Boston. I had some savings and no prospects of a job, but I had time and my lady, therefore, I had happiness!

As I began my job search in Boston, I wanted to leverage my finance training and experience, but this time with a greater focus on the healthcare industry that had always interested me. I was fortunate to find a position on the Life Sciences Lending Team at the Boston office of Silicon Valley Bank, a financial services firm for early stage technology and life science companies and venture capital firms. In this role I had the opportunity to meet and work with dozens of entrepreneurs, review hundreds of business plans, and provide millions

of dollars in loans to help propel these companies to the next stage of product development or the next round of clinical trials and closer to the markets they were trying to serve. As time went on, I began to realize I wanted to be on the other side of the table. Instead of providing the financing, I wanted to be shaping operations and to be closer to the care that these start-up companies were ultimately trying to provide.

I enjoyed the challenge and the analytical aspects of finance, however, I also recognized my desire to ensure the hard work I put into my career impacts the daily lives of people in

a direct and tangible way. I wanted to work at a hospital. As fate would have it, Boston is brimming with them. I scoured the Internet looking for contact information for hospital leaders across the city. I reached out to these executives, provided my background, and told them I wanted to learn how to become them. I received a reply from Patrick Jordan, the Chief Operating Officer at Newton-Wellesley Hospital, a 280-bed community hospital twelve miles west of Boston and part of PartnersHealthcare system which includes the world-

Lindner Honors-PLUS Grad Compliments His Red and Black with a Touch of Crimson

BY KYLE BERTKE

“As time went on, I began to realize I wanted to be on the other side of the table. Instead of providing the financing, I wanted to be shaping operations and to be closer to the care that these start-up companies were ultimately trying to provide.”

4 C A R L H . L I N D N E R H O N O R S P L U S

renowned academic medical centers Massachusetts General Hospital and Brigham and Women’s Hospital. Patrick offered to meet with me to review my resume, coach me on interviewing for administrative roles within a hospital, and to learn more about my interest in working for a healthcare provider. Our conversation was great, I was able to meet several of Patrick’s colleagues, and two weeks later received an offer to work in the Operations Management Department at Newton-Wellesley Hospital.

In the three years since joining Newton-Wellesley, I’ve seen every aspect of hospital operations from the linen room to the nursing floors and from the operating room to patient financial services. I’ve led teams that have improved emergency department efficiency and reduced wait times, I’ve provided the analysis that saved millions of dollars in labor costs, and fostered the development of innovative scheduling tools and operational scorecards across the hospital. Most importantly, I have had the opportunity to contribute in a small way to an enormous goal: reducing the cost and improving the quality of our nation’s healthcare system.

What I have been reminded through this seemingly unconnected but ultimately interconnected series of jobs and experiences is that, in life, everything builds upon itself. Fortunately, I am building my career on the foundation the Honors-PLUS Program provided. The academics, especially those courses we took together that were designed to be hands-on, helped me learn how to take “the theoretical” and apply it to real-world challenges. The co-op program had immeasurable benefits and impacts on my life. It gave me a professional maturity that can only be attained by being immersed in many different work environments

and job cultures. It also gave me job searching and interviewing skills which have been instrumental in my career progression. Last but not least, it was on a co-op in California where I met Mary Kate, who is now my wife... an unexpected and wonderful benefit of the program! The international experience in Europe as well as Honors spring break trips to Central America and opportunities to co-op in Washington DC and San Francisco helped me to become a person that is comfortable in unfamiliar situations and settings and who can adapt and thrive in any environment. Most importantly, the Program gave me confidence in my abilities as a leader. We were all accepted to the Honors-PLUS Program based on academic success and demonstrated leadership. As a result, I conscientiously brought those leadership skills with me to campus and was all the more determined to use and hone them while a part of the UC community. Whether leading a group meeting for a class, engaging with future Bearcats on a campus tour, holding a leadership role in an on campus organization, or deciding to start my own organization, I was using and growing my leadership skills and becoming more confident in my style of leadership and myself as a leader.

This has helped me immensely in my career, especially in my most recent role driving organizational change in a hospital.

Mary Kate, Camden (our 15 month old son who is getting cooler every day, and who already loves Skyline Chili as much as his dad does!), and I are excited to bring this foundation and the professional and life experiences that have been built on it to Harvard Business School this fall. While at HBS I plan to continue my focus on healthcare; specifically healthcare administration and improving the way in which healthcare is delivered. However, like the freshmen entering the Honors-PLUS Program this September, I cannot predict how much this outstanding program and its students and professors will change me over the next two years, and for all the years to come after graduating. I am certain, though, that everything I learned, the skills I gained, and the experiences I had in the Honors-PLUS Program at the University of Cincinnati have put me in a great position as I join my classmates from multiple countries and a variety of industries at Harvard Business School.

M A R C H 2012 5

Lindner Honors-PLUS WebsiteBY ASHLEY MCFARLAND

It’s now easier than ever to stay connected and up-to-date on the latest and greatest from Lindner Honors-PLUS, your fellow alums, and current students! Recently, an alumni driven website was cre-ated specifically for Lindner Honors-PLUS graduates and students. A special thanks to Paul Bessire, Brian Frank & PrintManagement for creating and maintaining this site for all of us!

What’s the website?www.lindnerhonorsplus.com

What can I do on the website?• Connect > Alumni Directory – You can update your information if it’s out of date because we’ll be using this tool to send out information to alumni and current students (mostly with your address this becomes harder & harder as people move) – we recently sent out an alumni campaign mailer, but have already received quite a few back as it’s an incorrect address so we just want to make sure we have the latest information possible• Connect > Facebook – You can click and see our Facebook page and “Like” it if you want to get even more information about the program (http://www.facebook.com/LindnerHonorsPLUS)• Donate > This has a direct link to the UC Foundation’s website to donate to the program (https://webapps.uc.edu/foundation/gift/gift.aspx?PrimCat=7&SubCat=19) – it’s never been easier! You can also see the donor honor roll as well as more information on the alumni campaign. • Newsworthy > We will be putting out a newsletter quarterly – Ashley McFarland will be in charge of collecting the information to include, so if you have something to include, please send it her way and we’ll make sure it’s included (Ashley.McFarland@uc.edu) • Current Students >This has a link to all current students in the program and a way for you to con-tact Judy Magazine if you have any co-op opportunities you’d like to share (Judy.Magazine@uc.edu) • Links > This has just handy links that might be of interest

Please let us know if you have any questions or comments – we would love to hear from you!

6 C A R L H . L I N D N E R H O N O R S P L U S

Items of Interest

Robel Kidane, Class of 2012 has been working on a project and it was admitted into Stanford’s Entrepreneur-ship Boot Camp & Pitch Competition, an all-expense paid trip out to Palo Alto! A story was also written about the BASES program in the Wall Street Journal.

Bhavik Modi, Class of 2015 presented at the 2011 Ohio Higher Education Sustainability Conference, which is put on by the Southwestern Ohio Council for Higher Education. It was a terrific experience meeting with Deans, Provosts, and other staff from these Universities to see what measures they are putting in place to make sure Sustainability initiatives make sense for their. His main goal with this conference was to take what other Universi-ties were doing and hopefully bring that knowledge back to apply it at the University of Cincinnati. The University of Dayton and the University of Cincinnati were the only uni-versities, out of the 18 represented that had student presen-tars. And based on the feedback, they blew everyone away. It was definitely a nerve-wracking experience speaking in front of so many distinguished faculty. Bhavik and the other 2 presenters for UC received a loud round of applause and they have never been prouder to be Bearcats.

The following LHP students received the Outstanding Student Awards in the Division of Professional Prac-tice for 2011:Katherine E.Jansen - FinanceAustin R. Francis - Industrial ManagementAndrew L. Smith - Operations Management

The Business Report newsletter is intended to help alumni stay informed about College of Business recent news and upcoming happenings. Visit http://cob.uc.edu/email/busrpt-spring11/ to view the Spring 2011 issue for an example of the content we typically feature. We cull our website for newsletter links on the past quarter’s news and events, but please feel free to send your submissions/event dates to Tricia Bath. PLEASE NOTE: Submissions should be brief (no more than 1 short sentence) and should have a URL link readers can visit for more information. Due to length concerns, we may not be able to feature all submissions. Tricia Bath, MA - Director, College Relations - College of BusinessUniversity of CincinnatiP: 513-556-7144 | M: 513-368-3436

Bhavik Modi at the Ohio Higher Education Sustainability Conference

M A R C H 2012 7

Items of Interest cont.

Ryan Rosensweig, Class of 2011 recieved the following awards:- Outstanding DAAP Graduate Student - awarded to the top graduate student from DAAP- Graduate Student of Exemplary Initiative - awarded to the top graduating Master level student I had the esteemed pleasure of representing the Carl H. Lindner Honors-PLUS Program as an ESPN Digital Media Analyst in New York City this summer. Kyle Quinn, Class of 2013 was tapped into Cincinnatus, Sigma Sigma, Order of Omega and ODK & Men of Metro.

Sammy Geroulis & Mike Monnette, Class of 2012 & Rohan Hemani , Class of 2013 were tapped into Menof Metro.

Kyle Quinn and Janelle Wichmann, both class of 2013 were nominated for the Harry S. Truman Scholar-ship. The Harry S. Truman scholarship is a competitive federal award granted to U.S. college juniors for demonstrated leadership potential and a commitment to public service. The scholarship is in the amount of $30,000 toward a graduate education. The scholarship is awarded to about 60 U.S. college juniors each year. Kyle and Janelle are in the top 600 in the country, and are on to the next round of the competition!

Bhavik Modi, Class of 2015 was featured in a student spotlight recently about campus involvement!http://www.uc.edu/spotlight/students/bhavik_modi.html

Joe Radloff, Class of 2012 has a lot to be proud of in a recent spotlight! Congrats Joe on all of your accomplishments! http://business.uc.edu/spotlights/disciplines/industrial-man-agement/2012/feb/joe-radloff.html

Cheerleaders Joe Radloff and partner Morgan Wil-liams at the last home football game of the season.

8 C A R L H . L I N D N E R H O N O R S P L U S

Internship Spotlight: ESPNBY JOSH KRAMER

My pursuit for a position at the Worldwide Leader in Sports began indirectly as a young child, but of-ficially in October of 2009, when I introduced a blog entitled “TheSportsKraze”. * The platform, designed to gather my in-depth coverage and analysis of vari-ous sporting categories, has produced over 650 posts and receives 400 views daily. I knew all the odds were against me—in-filtrating one of the most competitive internship programs as a state-school kid with no direct contact in the organization was virtually impossible. Aside from my unique co-op experiences in Tax at Deloitte and solid academic performance, my competitive advantage had to be my raw passion and love for sports. So I waited patiently and hustled diligently on creating an arsenal of quality sports content to showcase to recruiters at ESPN. After a year and over 360 blog posts later, I decided to apply for Summer Analyst opportunities. Over the next few months, I survived three rounds of phone interviews from ESPN delegates. The process comprised of several general experience questions, as well as comprehensive sports trivia. Given my preparation through the Honors-PLUS Program and wealth of industry knowledge, I felt confident in my performance. I later received a call from one of the Senior Recruiters, stating, “How would you like to come work for ESPN this summer Josh?” On my first day, I attended “Rookie Camp,” at the ESPN Headquarters in Bristol, Connecticut. The immense ESPN campus was a sports’ fans heaven. Not only did I meet many famous television person-alities, I also got to interact with fellow interns from across the country. Also, I took home a victory in an Intern “Stump the Schwab” competition with ESPN’s very own Howie Schwab (Stump the Schwab was an ESPN Sports Trivia Show that aired for three years). The next day it was time to get to business on the job. I was assigned to work with ESPN’s Mobile Group out of the New York Office, which was about a block from Grand Central Station. My big project was to do a full-scale audit comparison of ESPN’s website versus the mobile website. In addition, I

got to spend time testing out new products and equipment on handheld and tablet devices. Next, I spent a good amount of time evaluating Twitter Feedback and various other forums of feedback on ESPN’s new Mobile Website. Lastly, I had the op-portunity to conduct a chat with fans from across the country in a conversation regarding the NFL and NBA on August 2nd.** My internship concluded in a final pre-sentation for an hour to ESPN’s entire Mobile Department of 60+ people with others on the phone. This was an outstanding opportunity and something that went smoothly thanks in large part to Lisa Marie’s classes and Professor McFarland’s communications course. Ultimately, I would love to end up on the radio or television hosting a sports related show. This summer was an amazing experience that I was truly blessed to have the opportunity to take part in. A key theme of my internship experience is something that each and every one of you read-ing this should think about moving forward. “Follow your passion and be authentically who you are.”It may be the road less traveled, but it will be worth it.* The SportsKraze Blog -http://www.thesportsk-raze.com/** Mobile Fan Chat Transcript http://espn.go.com/sportsnation/chat/

M A R C H 2012 9

Village Life Outreach Project June Brigade to Tanzania 2011

BY KELLY BORMAN

This June, I had the opportunity of a lifetime to travel to Tanzania, Africa with a Cincinnati non-profit organi-zation, Village Life Outreach Project. VLOP strives to unite communities to promote life, health, and educa-tion within three remote and impoverished villages in rural East Africa. Village Life accomplishes their mis-sion through annual Outreach Brigades every June and October. These Brigades offer local leaders and students the chance to collaborate on projects that alleviate suffering, and several members even have the chance travel to Tanzania to further research, implement, or educate villagers on their projects.

I, along with sixteen other University of Cincin-nati students, was fortunate to have the oppor-tunity to join Village Life on this year’s June Brigade. I first learned about VLOP through a Humanitarian Design Honors Seminar which ended in this two-week trip to Africa. Through this course, we researched African history and culture, foreign aid and interna-tional development, as well as humanitarian aspects of design thinking and solutions for those in poverty. Each student was required to propose one project to implement while in Tanzania to continue VLOP’s mission and improve the lives of the villagers.

As the only business student in the class, my project focused less on construction and medical projects, and instead focused on the administrative side of the organization. In Tanzania, my role was to get a better under-standing of the accounting procedures in place for the organization and document all my conversations. The goal of this project was to improve the accounting processes when possible and help VLOP prepare substantial

financial statements for future years. I had the opportunity to shadow VLOP's non-profit partners, SHED (Shirati Health, Education, and Development Foundation) throughout this project. This was a great project to work on for me because it combined my academic discipline with my passion for service and global humanitarian efforts. The second half of my proposal is an ongoing project to develop a relationship between Village Life and UC’s College of Business. VLOP has expressed great interest in working with the CoB. They would love to have business stu-dents participating in projects, research, and helping with the operational, marketing, and finance side of the organization. Currently,

10 C A R L H . L I N D N E R H O N O R S P L U S

Village Life is working towards increasing visibility and awareness and expanding into the CoB is a great oppor-tunity for both Village Life and the students.

Though this trip was a great opportunity for me to use some of my accounting knowledge, it was also a learn-ing opportunity in several other ways. The course I took leading up to the trip was great preparation for under-standing the culture, current aid efforts in Africa, and what to expect while there, however, there were still many surprises.

The first surprise, no matter how many pictures I have seen of Africa, no image will ever do these beautiful countries justice. The landscape in both Tanzania and Kenya are breathtaking and I wish everyone had the opportunity to see the unbe-lievable stretch of the Great Rift Valley as well as the enormous beauty of Lake Victoria. Second, I learned that African people are the most com-passionate people I have ever met. The villagers in Tanzania work unbelievably hard every single day and are truly committed to creating better lives for future generations. The people there may not have all the resources we have in the U.S., but they still get all their work done day in and day out, and they do it all with a huge smile on their faces; I have never met more welcoming and genuinely happy people than those in rural Tanzania. Third, I learned a lot about how to approach humanitarian projects in a different country. Specifically with my accounting project, I learned that I was there to help contribute to an organization through partnership and collaboration. Village Life is not an organization that tells African people what they should be doing to improve their lives (and in my case, accounting processes) they are an organization that collaborates with villagers and together pinpoint problems and develop sustainable solutions as a commu-nity. Service and corporate responsibility has been a developing interest of mine throughout my time at UC, and

I have taken away great lessons from this trip that I hope to bring to the Cincinnati community upon graduation.

Of course, since this was a trip to Africa, we went on a two-day Safari in Kenya to end the trip. This was yet another unforgettable experience of a lifetime. I saw elephants, giraffes, zebras, hippos, alligators, rhinos, cheetahs, warthogs, and lions all within feet of our van! It was absolutely amazing to see these animals in the wild and closer than I normally see them at the zoo. The whole experience is very surreal because it is so different from how we view African animals in the U.S. Though it was extremely

touristy, and vastly different from the rest of the trip, I feel it was the perfect ending to my African excursion and I would (and plan on) go back again someday.

If you would like to learn more about Village Life Outreach Project or how to get involved, please feel free to email me (bormanka@gmail.com) or check out their website! http://www.villagelifeoutreach.org

M A R C H 2012 11

on the feedback of our potential clients.Financially, Derek and I have been awarded $95,000 in grants and awards from Columbus and Cin-cinnati organizations that support Ohio entrepreneurs including the 10x Business Accelerator, TechCo-lumbus TechGenesis Grant, and the Cincinnati Innovates Com-mercialization Award sponsored by CincyTech. We are currently in the process of raising over $375,000 in investment capital to ramp and scale the business.

Just 9 months after conceptual-izing the idea, Acceptd opened for business and is now currently ser-vicing UC’s College-Conservatory of Music and Otterbein Univer-sity’s Department of Theatre and Dance. Applicants to both of these programs are required to use Ac-ceptd as part of the application process. After launching our pilot program, we are actively seeking other partner programs to use the Acceptd platform. Check us out at www.getacceptd.com, and we look forward to keeping you all updated!

PLUS (multiple interviews and es-says that went beyond our grades and test scores), Derek and I knew how important it was to really sell yourself to decision makers.

We wanted to create a platform where students could sell them-selves beyond a written applica-tion - and in a style that appealed to the “YouTube” generation of today. On the flip side, we wanted to help bring college admissions into the 21st century and give program directors an opportunity to see a holistic view of applicants without having to bring them in for in-person interviews or in the case of fine arts, live auditions. The solution was a cloud-based video screening app that incorpo-rated social media and Web 2.0 technology.

We started talking to our higher education network knowing that the first rule of entrepreneurship is validating the need for your product, and learned that our idea resonated with everyone we talked

to including MBA directors, International Admissions of-ficers, and Per-forming Arts Deans. Derek and I then hired our develop-ment friends at Mindbox Stu-dios and cre-ated a working prototype based

Alumni SpotlightBY DEREK BROWN & DON HUNTER

Derek Brown and I, both ’08 H+ grads, took the entrepreneurial leap in June with our startup, Acceptd and haven’t (yet) looked back. Over the years, Derek and I have come up with hundreds of business ideas, going as far as vetting out business plans and designing logos, but ultimately always scaring ourselves out of pursuing them (too big, too risky, too expensive...).

However, after the birth of my daughter, Eden, last September, I realized that the opportunity to pursue an entrepreneurial dream would only get harder as my fam-ily grew. And, if I could make a baby, I could surely make a busi-ness (warning: this theory is still being tested).

In December, we “birthed” Ac-ceptd out of a passion for educa-tion and a desire to help students create opportunities for them-selves as they apply to college. From our experience applying and getting accepted to Honors-

12 C A R L H . L I N D N E R H O N O R S P L U S

Anndrea Moore, Class of 2010 - I started working at Google in June 2011 as an Online Advertising Associate assisting small and medium-sized business with our AdWords product. My experience at Google has been amazing so far!! Yes, it’s true we get breakfast and lunch everyday (and dinner if we stay late), shuttles to take us to and from work, TGIFridays, quarterly team outings, and many other perks! Googlers I’ve met have done some amazing things before coming to Google: established non-profits, traveled the world, and worked in many different industries. I think that’s what makes Google unique; they truly hire smart, “Googley” people. Though life at Google is a lot of fun, everyone works really hard to continue in the overall success of the company. Even with us gaining thousands of employees this year, senior leaders have worked really hard to make sure that we know how we each individually contribute to the company’s bottom line. My most memorable “Google moment” I have had so far was on Friday earlier this summer. We had a huge Luau, complete with Hawaiian hula dancers, traditional Hawaiian music, and pit-roasted kalua pig and lomi salmon! As I watched the dancers I kept thinking, “This is amazing! I really work for Google!!”

David Ross, Class of 2002 was promoted to Vice President at Fifth Third Bancorp by the board of directors. David Ross is a finance manager. He joined Fifth Third Bank in 2002 and graduated from the University of Cincinnati, where he majored in finance. He volunteers as a team member for the Alzheimer’s Association of Cincinnati for its annual “Memory Walk.” Originally from Cleveland, David currently lives with his wife and two children in Loveland.

Alumni CornerNeil Black, Class of 2005 will be getting married to his fiance Adrienne in April.

Gia Polychroniou, Class of 2004 moved back to Cincinnati during 2010, after living in Chicago since graduation, where she worked with a Hedge Fund. She is working as a Financial Advisor at Wells Fargo Advisors, LLC downtown on East Fifth Street. Gia helps clients with all aspects of investment planning and

wealth preservation strategies.

Gia Polychroniou, Financial AdvisorT: 513.412.5261E: GIA.POLYCHRONIOU@WELLSFARGOADVISORS.COMWebsite: https://home.wellsfargoadvisors.com/gia.polychroniou

Jason Ballas, Class of 2008 was recognized as a seasonal AND annual winner of one of Macy’s MAKE MAGIC “Six” Awards. These awards aim to “recognize the things employees do that are above and beyond, that push others to strive for greatness, and that deliver results.” There are two recipients (under each executive’s pyramid, in my case the CFO) for each of the categories in the fall and spring, and then one of those four is recognized as the annual winner.Jason Ballas stepped up in an incredible way, delivering great customer engagement for his department, and for the rest of the planning functions across the company. In a moment of need, Jason stepped into a vital role and performed a fantastic job under very difficult conditions. The November through January time frame is the busiest time of year in the financial planning world. While Jason was generally familiar with most of the processes and tasks he jumped in and taught himself how to navigate the Flash, ROF, and closing processes during the three most important months of the year. He successfully managed the entire Corporate plan submission process twice, and has even made improvements to our templates and processes along the way. Without Jason’s commitment to all of our customers and delivery of outstanding service, I don’t know how we would have made it through the fourth quarter. What he has done is nothing short of magic.

M A R C H 2012 13

Zach Logan, Class of 2005 and his wife celebrated the birth of their son, Miles Logan on September 7, 2011 at 2:40 PM at Christ Hospital! The proud dad says he’s alread amazing and they are so thankful for this little blessing. He smiles, laughs and gives them immeasurable joy every day - and he eats all the time (just like his old man, already growing like a weed)!

Justin Shafer, Class of 2005 - It is with great pleasure that Lisa and I announce the birth of our Son, John (Jack) Louis Shafer. Baby Jack came into the world on March 21, 2012 around 8:30 PM at a whoop-ing 5 lbs 3 oz (a full 1 lb more than expected). Both he and Mom are doing very well!

Tim Metzner (Class of 2005), who is Vice President of Marketing at SparkPeople.com, was recently featured on Cincinnati.com. Spark-People.com is “the biggest website you’ve never heard of.” http://enterchange.cincinnati.com/2012/01/04/sparkpeople-aims-for-mainstream/

Alumni Corner Cont.

We love hearing from our alumni! If you have exciting news, please send it to me (Ashley.McFarland@uc.edu). The next newsletter will go out in June (before my maternity leave starts hopefully early July).