Hood Magazine Summer 2008

42 HOOD MAGAZINE | SUMMER 2008 35TH REUNION ALUMNA GIVES THE GIFT OF CAREER MENTORING Laura Lee Miller ’73, president of licensing for Vera Wang, celebrated her 35th reunion of sorts in May when Hood’s Student Management Association met her in her ofﬁce in New York City. Laura Lee discussed marketing strategies with the students and guests, held an informative session on corporate management principles and offered career advice. Attending the session were Anita Jose, Ph.D., associate professor of management and chair of the department of economics and management; Judy Messina ’66, a member of Hood’s board of trustees; Jing Zhang ’08; Jessica Grant ’09; Candace Butler ’08; Ashlie Evans ’08; Karina Garrido ’08; Prima Brooks ’09; Justin Burall ’08; Emily Heys ’10; and Andrew Randall ’09. “The advice and information that Laura Lee shared with them was a great inspiration to many of the graduating seniors,” said Jose. Laura Lee joined Vera Wang Group in March 2004 with more than 25 years of experience in luxury brand management and strategic marketing across domestic and global markets. As president of Vera Wang Licensing, she is responsible for the global licensing division of Vera Wang with more than $180 million in wholesale sales of products across categories including fragrance, china and crystal, stationery, eyewear, lingerie and home fashion. She oversees the management and coordination of all licensing partners monitoring business strategy, process and performance to ensure compliance and marketing synergy with Vera Wang corporate strategic plans. Her evaluation of new business initiatives, category expansion, brand positioning and segmentation opportunities have resulted in an increase in licensing revenues of 130 percent over two years. “A career is never the sum of the jobs or titles that one has on a résumé, but rather a reﬂection of the way in which we have lived our careers … what we have accomplished, who we have mentored, what we are most proud of and for what we most want to be remembered,” Laura Lee said. “For me, the opportunity to meet and mentor the Hood College students was a pleasure and a privilege. Regardless of their choice of career, there are some fundamental truths from which we can all beneﬁt and learn.” Laura Lee also shared that Hood College was an opportunity to engage her curiosity and embark on the journey of her life and career. She believes most important and enduring gift from Hood are the friendships that were created and remain strong today. “The bonds that are created at Hood form a network of relationships upon which you will build throughout your life.” Seven Lakes, N.C., in February and left toocrowded, too-noisy New Jersey in May. Our daughter Kate relocated with us and plans to continue graduate school at UNCPembroke. A major factor for me in selecting Seven Lakes is its proximity to the town where Karen Blair is renovating a house. Kari continues to enjoy her position at Towson University. She and her husband George Friedman traveled to New Orleans in February where Kari attended a professional conference. Our two families look forward to seeing each and traveling together more often. I want to thank the classmates who responded to my e-mail request for information as I tried to move and meet a deadline in the same week. Keep sending news for the next column. 1972 Cynthia A. Clifford 1666 Grove St. San Francisco, CA 94117-1323 (415) 563-5273 (415) 824-1072 (fax) clifford@texture.com Jane Hively Zarfoss and husband Jim met Donna Mikulak Strawser ’71 and her husband Dan for dinner in Lancaster, Pa., in March. Donna and Dan live in Coatesville, but will soon retire in Maine. Jane says, “Time stands still when we talk politics, share family photos, or reminisce about our friendship while we were students at Hood and living in Memorial.” Jane also had a great lunch with Marianne Taylor Strittmatter along the Susquehanna River in Wrightsville, Pa., and says that Marianne is as lovely, perky, funny and fascinating as ever. Carol Schlosnagle Bradford will spend the next two years in Hong Kong with APCO, a global communication ﬁrm. Based with the company in Washington, D.C., for seven years, she has worked on a number of global clients, notably as part of the Dow Corning team. Carol, we look forward to great news from you in Hong Kong. Linda Wicks Crites saw Anne Francis Phillips last summer; Anne continues to enjoy her job as the director of the Patten Free Library in Bath, Maine. Linda and husband Bob were in New England over Labor Day, where they had dinner with Bev Lutz and her husband Bob Tremblay. Linda is in touch with Carol Lipson Fivozinsky, who retired a couple of years ago but decided to return to work part time. Linda sees Connie Dawley Seeley every month or so; Connie loves having her daughter, son and daughter-in-law in the area, but the light of her life is her 6year-old grandson. Linda retired in September and was enjoying having some time at last for a number of house projects. Gini Procino Hartmann and Tom’s oldest son Gabriel was married to Fiona King in New Zealand in January; both teach English in Seoul, Korea. In July 2008, son Thaddeus will marry Lisa Kemp in the Princeton Chapel. Thad just ﬁnished his ﬁrst year at The Univ. of Pennsylvania Law School and Lisa, also a graduate of Princeton and the Univ. of Pennsylvania, teaches math at a charter school. Daughter Beatrix just ﬁnished her second year at Mount Holyoke College—Gini points out that Mount Holyoke is still all women and going strong. Tom was recalled to active duty in July 2007, and is the legal adviser to the Convening Authority for Military Commissions in Washington, D.C., dividing his time between Washington and Guantanamo Bay, while Gini is home in Connecticut working for an electrical engineer. She also reports that Kathy Martin Belikoff’s niece played at Carnegie Hall! Gini recently had lunch with Helen DeLeonard, who is an elementary school teacher. Regarding this column, I thought Carol Bradford and I had both stepped down some time ago, but Hood still has me on record as your reporter. So I’ll continue for 2008, or longer if one of you would like to partner on this, as Carol and I did for some time—thank you, Carol! Please contact me: clifford@texture.com. 1973 Lorraine Sharp Kish raineykish@yahoo.com 1971 Linda Graves Pearson 1416 Appleberry Way West Chester, PA 19382 (610) 430-6538 lpearson906@worldsavings.com No news this issue. First of all, many thanks to those of you who answered my many e-mails and telephone calls for more “class news.” Your cooperation is what helps make our column interesting for all of us to read. It seems like every time I write this column I am residing in another state! I thoroughly enjoyed living in Maryland and spending time with Charlie Miller Ponticelli, Karen Bast Grifﬁth, Debbie Christ Zourdos and Sandy Rieder. It was so great to be able to meet Sandy for lunch and get together with Charlie for dinner. But life is full of changes. Yes, we have moved again—to California. Now my husband and I are probably the only ones I know of who drive a car across the Great Continental Divide

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