www.sigmapicornell.org Mu Chapter of Sigma Pi Fraternity honor plaques in theMemorialRoomlibrary. Seearticleon page4. Centennial Plaque intheWest Lounge andupdated

the MUSE Spring 2016Spring Mu Chapter Committee Develops Kitchen Website & Social and Dining Strategy Media Outlets Since our last report in the fall Muse, the undergraduates and the class of 2015 was alumni board launched a strategic initiative conducted in November 2015. A total of 53 to develop a comprehensive plan focused responses to the survey were received, the on modernizing and enhancing the kitchen majority of which were by current brothers. and dining facilities of Sigma Pi. A commit- The results of the committee’s work were tee consisting of alumni industry leaders presented to the alumni board at a meet- and undergraduate leaders was formed. ing that took place in New York City in late The committee communicated with March. The alumni board authorized that a representatives from Sigma Pi Internation- preliminary study be conducted with a repu- al and Cornell Fraternity and Sorority Life table design firm that will present strategic on kitchen and dining issues that impact options for considerations. This will lead to Greek life to determine if “best practices’” a comprehensive plan, which will be com- exist in the Greek system. Conclusion: best municated to the alumni once it is complete. In the fall of 2014, the alumni board practices don’t exist. This might be an op- worked closely with its communications portunity for Mu Chapter to lead. In addi- Alumni Kitchen and Dining Committee partner to completely update the Mu tion, the committee collected competitive Chapter’s website, sigmapicornell.org. market feedback on other fraternities. • Brian Finneran ’81: CEO at Intermedia There were a number of requirements In order to gain a better understanding of Events & Conference Group that were a part of the redesign process. the issues around kitchen and dining, mem- • Steve Pirozzi ’80: Food & Beverage The new website: bers of the committee (Brian Finneran ’81, Dept., The Hotel Plaza Athenee, New • increases the ability for our alumni to stay York connected and to be kept up-to-date • Alexa Bosshardt ’82: Corporate re- • has a robust section for our under- search chef at American Sugar Refining; graduate brothers to enhance new culinary professional and registered/li- member recruitment censed dietitian with expertise in recipe/ new product R&D, nutrition, nutritional • has a section for parents to find the in- labeling, and nutritional marketing formation they need, whether their son • Greg Vojnovic ’85: Chief development is a current or prospective member officer at Arby’s Restaurant Group • has better support for mobile devices. • Kevin Kruse ’79: Chief development With these factors, as well as the desire New chef David Brown, John Wu ’17, officer at Hurricane Grill & Wings; expe- for a very aesthetically pleasing and high- Steve Pirozzi ’80 rience in franchise sales and operations, ly functional site, a new visual design was Steve Pirozzi ’80, Alexa Bosshardt ’82, and franchise law, business development, created and new content was added. Greg Vojnovic ’85) conducted multiple on- market mapping, and site selection We’re sure those who have visited site visits to review facility infrastructure, to • Dave Williamson ’77: President at Five the website would agree, both visually meet with undergraduate leaders, and to re- Star Restaurants, LLC; entrepreneur, and content-wise, the new site is a ma- view dining and sanitation conditions. Addi- opening fast casual restaurants in Ne- jor step forward. tionally, a comprehensive survey with current vada and Southern California If you haven’t visited the site, please go, check it out, and register for the members-only section to gain access to the full range of content. Facilities Committee Making In addition, the alumni board is keen to make the most of existing social me- Improvements for Mu Chapter dia channels. Please visit our current so- By John Morrison ’75 the dining room and one in a bedroom. cial media outlets. The original vendor had inspected those We have taken multiple steps to ad- two windows and determined that they dress window hardware and air leakage, Facebook: (continued on next page) which have been significant problems for facebook.com/groups/250850591718094 many years. All third-floor windows were replaced in November 2015. Those win- Instagram: Twitter: dows were casement-type (crank-out) @cornellsigmapi @CornellSigmaPi windows, which have contributed to most of the maintenance problems. The Sigma Pi Foundation replaced the windows in LinkedIn: the Memorial Library in February. At that /groups/Sigma-Pi-Mu-Chapter-Alumni-4734302 time, two additional windows were re- placed: the one in the main stairwell to page 2 Spring 2016 Sage Report By Fernando Cevallos ’17 Cahoon ’77 Tech Center to host our alumni speaker series, where the brotherhood gets To begin the year, Mu an opportunity to hear how being a mem- Chapter held its yearly rush ber of Sigma Pi has positively influenced By Mike Vernick ’83 week, where we attracted Mu Chapter alumni. One highlight of the se- over 400 rushes to our first mester thus far was our yearly brotherhood The Mu Chapter of Sigma Pi Educational recruitment event. As al- camping event, Omega Chi. We ventured to Foundation sponsored the first-ever confer- ways, rush week is incred- a campsite 30 minutes north from the Pi ence on entrepreneurship for undergraduate ibly competitive, and we house and spent a night camping in the wil- brothers on April 16 at the house. The con- are happy to announce that our efforts yield- derness. Although it was cold and windy, we ference was held in conjunction with the En- ed 14 outstanding new brothers. Although kept good company around the fire. Need- trepreneurship at Cornell celebration held on this incoming pledge class is slightly smaller less to say, it was quite the adventure. April 14 and 15. The event was attended by than previous ones, it’s important to note that We had our annual Parents Weekend over 50 undergraduate brothers and alumni. these new members are an extremely good from April 8–10, where the families of the The keynote speaker was Felix Litvinsky, fit for the house and have all contributed im- current brothers partook in several activities managing director of Blackstone LaunchPad mensely since joining. Following the great with the brotherhood, including attending at Cornell University. Blackstone Launch- success of last year’s pledge party, the new a Cornell lacrosse game, going on a win- Pad is an experiential campus-based pro- brothers are diligently planning a second an- ery tour, and enjoying a formal dinner at gram designed to introduce entrepreneur- nual beach-themed pledge party called “Oa- the Pi house with the whole brotherhood. ship as a viable career path and to develop sis.” We will again fill up the bottom parking Additionally, we hosted our first-ever entre- entrepreneurial skills and mindset through lot with sand. It is sure to be a great time. preneurship conference at the Pi house on individualized coaching, ideation, and ven- The new members were initiated on April 16, where various tech industry lead- ture creation support. In addition, the direc- February 28. This leaves us with a total of ers spoke to the brotherhood about rele- tor of Entrepreneurship at Cornell (E@C), 70 active brothers. Given the problems we vant topics in tech and entrepreneurship. Zachary Schulman ’87, spoke about the had last year with our new-member educa- As always, we will wrap up the spring se- Cornell entrepreneurship program that was tion process, I’m very happy to announce mester with Slope Day and the Orchid Ball, created in 1992 to promote entrepreneur- that we successfully completed the process two of the most exciting events of the year. ship education, experiential learning op- without any issues this year. We all worked As my term as sage comes to an end, portunities, programmatic activities, and extensively with the university administra- I’d like to say that the Pi house continues events for the Cornell community. tion and new-member educators to make to excel in all aspects of life on the hill, and Sigma Pi alumni speakers included sure everything went according to plan. I invite all, no matter the distance from Cor- John Zimmer ’06, founder and CEO of Over the course of the spring 2016 se- nell, to share the same pride that results Lyft; Quin Garcia ’05, managing director of mester, we’ve continued using the Dick from seeing the house succeed. AutoTech Ventures, a venture fund invest- ing in ground transport startups that are focused on connected, autonomous, ener- gy-efficient cars, motorcycles, commercial Tom Silver ’81, incoming president of vehicles, and services; Randy Ottinger the Mu Chapter Educational Foundation, Facilities Committee ’80, founder of Leader-2-Leader, a firm discussed the ways undergraduates could Making Improvements that helps founders, CEOs, and senior lead- partner with the Foundation on entrepre- ers build great companies with the strate- neurship endeavors. Brody Ehrlich ’10, and (continued from previous page) gies, cultures, and networks to accelerate Brian Lederman ’10, spoke about a new were beyond repair and required replace- growth, innovation, and financial value; Ali initiative to help secure funding for under- ment. The original vendor has inspected Hamed ’14, co-founder, managing partner, graduates’ entrepreneurial and business and is in the process of making neces- and partner at CoVenture, a venture capital projects. If you’re an entrepreneur and would sary repairs to all other windows. Work is firm, specializing in seed and early stage like to be involved in further promoting en- scheduled for completion in late April. startups and building software in exchange trepreneurship with the undergraduates as a In the early morning of December 26, for equity; and Dan Smalls ’92, founder of speaker or as a mentor to vandals spray-painted graffiti on the front Dan Smalls Presents, a talent buyer, con- an undergraduate, please of the house. The attack on Mu Chapter cert promotion, and event production com- reach out to Rob Novo at was one of a half-dozen graffiti attacks in pany based in Ithaca, New York. [email protected]. the Cornell area that morning. The Ithaca Police Department (IPD) investigated the incidents, but was unable to identify the culprits. The IPD reported that Ithaca has been suffering from a significant increase in graffiti over the past few months and that they had no reason to believe that the at- tack on Sigma Pi was due to any activities on the part of the brothers. The graffiti was covered with a tarp that day and painted Zach Schulman ’87, director of Entrepreneurship at Cornell, speaks at the conference. over during the following week.

page 3 Foundation and Undergraduates Support College Mentors for Kids By David Golding ’18 meet our current goals of mentoring 80+ find mentors for at-risk elementary school kids but also to the 40+ new el- The 2015–2016 academic year saw the fund expansion to Cayuga Heights Elemen- ementary school brotherhood’s continued involvement and tary School for fall 2016. However, success kids we would success within the Cor- cannot be assigned be bringing in. It nell University chapter solely to the executive also required us of College Mentors for board; rather, the gen- to expand our Kids. From growth in eral managers and the executive board community and campus college mentors them- to accommodate. relationships to contin- selves have proven to Overall, the Cor- Dexter Amadasun ’19 ued brother participa- be integral parts in the nell University with mentee tion, the brotherhood’s accomplishments of the chapter of College Mentors for Kids has ex- involvement has en- organization. Because perienced much growth this past academic abled College Mentors Sigma Pi brothers popu- year, largely due to the efforts of the broth- for Kids to continue to thrive as a campus late every echelon of this organization, it is ers of Sigma Pi. organization. no surprise that we have continued to see Successfully completing the expan- The Cornell College Mentors executive positive growth on all fronts. sion into CHES and developing meaningful board, which consists largely of Sigma Pi Our most notable accomplishment this mentoring relationships with 40 additional brothers, efficiently and effectively led the year is our finalization of plans to expand elementary school kids will be a large chal- organization with efforts to further improve into Cayuga Heights Elementary School lenge for us in the future, but based on the the activities for the kids, to strengthen ties (CHES). This was a massive test of the ef- devotion that involved Pi men have shown with similar organizations on campus and ficiency of our organization on all fronts. It toward ensuring the organization’s continued within the Ithaca community, and to secure required us to raise more funds, while en- success, we are all confident that we will con- appropriate funding in order to not only abling us to expand our reach on campus to tinue to develop positively in the future.

Mu Chapter & Educational Foundation Initiatives Update Memorial Room Plaques Mu Chapter alumni corporation, in partnership with the Educational Founda- tion, recently updated and added giving Educational and scholarship-recognition plaques in the Foundation Historic Memorial Room. Donors There is now a wall in the Memorial Room that highlights giving to the Founda- tion. The Centennial plaque is now hanging in the West Lounge. Updated Heritage The photos and layouts below provide Donors Brother of the Year a good sense of the changes that have oc-

Winners curred. The best way, of course, to view these is to visit 730 University Avenue and see them yourself.

Brother of the Year Donor Plaque

Harrop Scholarship

Centennial Plaque in the West Lounge

page 4 Educational Foundation Reports a Very Busy Spring By Aaron Klein ’12, Foundation President company, real-estate developers, special units and added plaques to honor our districts, and ranch owners. donors. Please see the article on page 4 Since our last report in the fall Muse, the James R. Franz is a mem- for more information about the updated Foundation has been busy on many fronts. ber of Hinman, Howard & plaques in the Pi house. We have added two new directors. Kattell’s Business and Cor- Wayne Forman ’80 and Jim Franz ’77 porate Law Group, Labor and Academics were elected to the Board of Directors of Employment Group, Health the Mu Chapter of Sigma Pi Educational Care Law Group, and Not-for- After another successful round of recruit- Foundation at a board meeting that took Franz Profit Corporation and Foun- ment for Mu Chapter, Cornell has made fra- place on Tuesday, April 5. These two gentle- dation Practice Group. He also served as ternity academic data public. Sigma Pi has men bring a wealth of experience to the chairman of the firm’s Business and Corpo- the 4th highest GPA out of the 41 fraternities Foundation, and we are most fortunate to rate Law Practice Group for nearly 20 years. at Cornell. We had 62 brothers in the fall with have them as new board members. Mr. Franz has been able to blend his work in a house average GPA of 3.533. Sigma Pi is Wayne Forman is partner corporate law with small-town general prac- now one of the elite fraternities on campus at Brownstein Hyatt Farber tice. His law license has allowed him to as- in terms of academic achievement. Schreck, LLP, where he rep- sist his friends and neighbors with the chal- The Mu Chapter of Sigma Pi Educational resents clients in all aspects lenges that they face in the course of their Foundation has had a very busy spring and of Colorado water law, land- daily lives, and he has always embraced op- is proud to continue to support the aca- use litigation, condemna- portunities to engage as a general practitio- demic pursuits and career aspirations of the Forman tion, and environmental ner, serving the individual legal needs of the undergraduates. To foster continued success law and litigation. He represents private people of his community. in the classroom, the Foundation recently and public clients throughout Colorado In addition, the Foundation has been funded the purchase of Chegg accounts for on water-rights matters and has extensive working hard to update the Memorial the fraternity and the procurement of a mo- experience in land-use litigation and wa- Room in the house. Since the addition of bile whiteboard. Chegg is a California-based ter-quality and wetlands matters. Wayne’s the Dick Cahoon ’77 Tech Center last year, company that specializes in online textbook clients include a national home builder, a the foundation has replaced all of the win- rentals, homework help, and online tutor- natural-gas exploration and development dows with state-of-the-art, energy-efficient ing. The online platform will enable students to delve deeper into their studies in a broad range of classes, from financial accounting to linear algebra to fluid mechanics. The whiteboard will help foster a more collabor- Mu Chapter Financial Update ative learning environment in the Memorial Room library, a space that already is regu- By John J. Haggerty, ’78, Treasurer, from a steady state of around $20K per larly home to a crowd of studying brothers. Sigma Pi Alumni Corporation year to $149K in FY 2014 and $170K in FY The Educational Foundation is also proud 2015 (these figures include the cost of the to have sponsored the Sigma Pi Entrepre- The alumni corporation of Mu Chapter Centennial Party, which was fully funded neurship Conference at the Pi house. Please of Sigma Pi is financially stable and has by the alumni). These contributions en- make sure to read the article by Mike Vernick recently undertaken significant capital im- abled the corporation to pay off $160K in with more details on the event (page 3). provement projects, in large part due to the mortgage debt, and $30K in short-term increased participation and generosity of (LOC) debt, freeing up $4K+ per month the active alumni population. in cash. The additional cash and free cash Revenue to the house takes two dis- flow has also allowed us to invest over tinct forms: rent and alumni contributions. $100K in capital improvements, which 2015–2016 Over the last several years, a number of ac- will be highlighted in the facilities report ANNUAL GIVING tions have been taken to create a positive (see page 2). and stable cash flow. First, Sigma Pi tied However, alumni contributions through its rent to the published Cornell University six months of FY 2016 have returned to the Heritage Fund room rates, which have been increasing in pre-centennial level ($8,975). This, coupled Total gifts: $8,975 the range of 3%–5% annually. Second, Mu with a smaller than average pledge class of Chapter adopted a two-year lease for all 14, which reduces rent, leads me to be cau- Number of donors: 47 entering brothers. It is now well established tious about FY 2017 and beyond. Under the New donors: 3 that joining Mu Chapter means living at worst case scenario, we will have sufficient 730 University Avenue for sophomore and financial flexibility to operate the house junior years. Despite fluctuations in pledge- with 25–27 brothers in residence, but we Educational Foundation class size, we have been able to keep the will have substantially less cash to under- Total gifts: $18,895 house close to its designed occupancy of take major repairs or improvements. 35. With approximately 30 brothers paying Thank you for your support of Mu Chap- Number of donors: 39 rent, the house breaks even. ter of Sigma Pi. If you have any questions, New donors: 1 Alumni contributions increased dra- please feel free to email me at jjh56@ matically through the last two fiscal years, cornell.edu or to call at 607-255-6075.

page 5 Alumni Career and Mentoring Initiates By Tom Silver ’81 & Rob Novo ’79 useful guidance but some relationships took and provided insight regarding working for a longer than anticipated to get going. large company verses a small startup. The Alumni Career Development Com- Given the diverse and varied nature of the In April, Jarett Wait ’80 and Steve mittee thanks the dozens of alumni who undergraduate backgrounds that we were Rosenzweig ’79 spoke. Both brothers helped make the mentor program and the looking to match appropriately, we were very have held high positions in finance and Distinguished Alumni Speaker Series suc- happy with the feedback and have received were looking to educate the brotherhood cessful this spring. Both programs have been good recommendations for improvements. on their various roles and how they were very positively received, and participation Alums and undergrads felt the program able to achieve such great success. has been steady. As we approach the end of should more aggressively target sophomores, We are always looking for more alumni the spring semester, we are starting to look who are earlier in their career development to Skype into the Dick Cahoon ’77 Tech at each program and how we can make process and less certain about their future. Center to share their stories about Cornell, them even better for the future. In closing, we would like to thank you Sigma Pi and their careers. If you are in- for your participation in the program. We terested in participating or learning more are committed to modifying the program about the program, please reach out to Mentor Program so that it continues to get better. That is Mark Luzzi ’16 at [email protected]. Earlier this spring semester, we asked why your feedback is so important. And for feedback from the 25 undergraduate frankly, there would be no program with- mentees and their mentors. Overall, we re- out each of you. So again ... THANK YOU! ceived excellent reviews from alumni and undergraduates. Many undergrads com- Distinguished Speaker Program mented on having an ongoing dialogue with their mentors and how they have Continuing from the success of the Dis- found this interaction to be very meaning- tinguished Alumni Speaker Series last se- ful and productive. Others, while having mester, the second semester proved to be less interaction with their mentors, were very exciting. In February, Zach Crane ’10 also very appreciative of the feedback and spoke about his career as a trader at Gold- advice they’ve received from their mentors. man Sachs and Moore Capital Manage- NYC Career event at American Flat We heard of two instances where the in- ment. Zach provided the brotherhood with teraction wasn’t as we had hoped. One was advice about entering the finance industry attributed to a mismatch and the other attrib- and gave his insight regarding the current uted to the undergraduate having unrealistic state of the markets. In March, Grant La- expectations of the program (he thought his Fontaine ’10 discussed his career as a mar- mentor should find him a job). Alums com- keting manager for YouTube, where he was mented that, once the conversations got selected for Forbes “30 under 30.” Grant re- started, they felt they were able to provide cently switched roles to a start-up company

NYC Career dinner LEGACY ALERT! Do you have a child or grandchild who currently is, or will be, attending Cornell as either an undergraduate or graduate stu- dent? We are keen to welcome legacies to Cornell and to invite them to the house. Please send his/her name, parent/grandpar- ent name, college, and email address to Kurt Rasmussen ’80, alumni relations chair. ([email protected]). Entrepreneurship Current legacies on campus: Summit 2015: Brian CU Silicon Valley event: Class of 2016 Lederman ’16, Mike Jarett Wait ’80, Ben Drierer ’15, Anderson ’77 and Quin Garcia ’04 Will Petee (Arts): Jon Petee ’81 Class of 2017 Blair Bosshardt (Hum Ec): Alexa ’82 & Kurt Bosshardt ’83 Class of 2018 Charlotte Leape (Eng): Gerry Leape ’82 Class of 2019 Jack Kantor (ILR): Andy Kantor ’79 Jackson Cherner (Arts): Tom Cherner ’80 Jack Burger (CALS): John D. Burger ’84

NYC Career event at Lazard Freres page 6 2016–2017 Resident Advisor The alumni board recently hired Alec Charbonneau ’16 as the resident advisor for the 2016–2017 academic year. We would like to thank Michael Lieberman for his two years of leadership and service to the fraternity and to wish him well in his postgraduate endeavors. Alex is from a small suburb in Ohio called Powell. He is currently fulfilling his Mu Chapter of Sigma Pi 2016 Class Bachelor of Science degree at Cornell in Mu Chapter welcomes the class of 2016, which consists of 14 new brothers. These mechanical engineering, with a minor in gentlemen represent all of Cornell’s colleges and schools with a wide variety of majors and business. Next year, he will be attending interests and hail from California, Maine, New York, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey. Cornell’s Master of Engineering program in Top row (from left to right): Isaiah Duck, Shailen Goshi, Jack D’Agostino, Sam Barnum, biomedical engineering. Griffin Py, Ari Perlmutter, Elliot LaGuardia, Slater Goodman; bottom row: Dexter Amadu- sun, Jon Caen, Niko Nikolic, Matthew Blakley, Josh Even, Josh Sones. Mu Chapter Brothers Make 400+ Calls Calendar On February 21, 12 undergraduate brothers participated in the fourth annual thankathon 2016 phone event. The brothers made more than 400 phone calls to thank active alumni and those who have donated, as well as to reach out to brothers from classes dating back to the 1950s. Additionally, the thankathon aimed to inform alumni about the upcoming Sigma Pi reunion weekend from June 9–12 at the Pi house and the entrepreneurship conference on April 16 at May 11, 2016 the Pi house. The brothers who participated had many inspiring conversations with the alumni last day of spring classes/ they reached, and they hope to continue the tradition next year. Slope Day

May 12–15, 2016 spring study period

May 16–19, 2016 spring exam period

May 29, 2016 Commencement

June 8, 2016 Foundation Annual Meeting

June 9–12, 2016 Reunion Weekend 2016

September 23–24, 2016 Homecoming Weekend

September 23–25, 2016 Procrasticup

Brothers at phone event

page 7 Foundation Risk Management Seminar Introducing the By Mark Luzzi ’16 useful. This information will be used to en- sure the safety of future events at the Pi Incoming E-Board The Educational Foundation funded house. While we currently have a strong a presentation from Shaw & Murphy law reputation on campus for abiding by the Sage: Jake Howell ’18 firm on March 8. Bill Shaw, CU’69, and Mi- rules set forth by the Interfraternity Coun- Vice President: Alex Wood-Thomas ’18 chelle Abruzzo presented in the Memorial cil, this information will further improve our Room library to educate the brothers about risk-management practices to ensure the Treasurer: Sanjay Banda ’18, the risks and social stigmas that could be utmost safety at our events. Alumni Secretary: Chaz Byrnes ’18 associated with being a fraternity member. The team of lawyers covered topics such as Steward: Patrick Wang ’18 the dangers of alcohol at fraternity parties, Herald: Bill McGrane ’17 properly managing risk, common proto- cols in the event of a crisis at the fraternity house, and sexual assault and the appro- priate response if one finds oneself wrong- fully accused of such a crime. Social and The brothers, especially the new mem- bers, found this information to be very Intramural Update By Alexander Rodriguez ’18

This past semester, the brothers en- Join Us for REUNION: June 9–12, 2016 joyed a variety of social functions. From several weekly sorority mixers to date nights, there were many opportunities to The Sigma Pi Reunion Committee (Joe same DJ (Elephant Sound and Bob Hig- go out and have a swell time. Ruocco ’81, Miguel Ferrer ’91, Gary gins) that worked the house in the ’80s. A few highlights from the fall include a Derck ’81, John Altmeyer ’81, Craig On Saturday, Mischka’s happy hour and great Halloween party and the widely suc- Dewey ’06, and Nick Vojnovic ’81) has dinner (Mischka was the house dog for cessful “parking-lot party,” which is becoming crafted a full schedule of events. Broth- many years in the ’70s and ’80s) will be a house staple. This day-long event featured ers will be welcomed at the Pi house, followed by a performance of the NYC- a wading pool, 50 bales of hay, and various beginning Thursday afternoon. On based band, Men with Big Hips, at the food trucks for patrons to enjoy. Another Thursday night, there will be a “horse- sandless beach party. Howie Gordon highlight was the boat formal, where broth- less” happy hour and dinner on the ven- ’81 is the drummer for this talented ers took their dates on a three-hour cruise erable Pi house porch. The “horseless” band, which previously performed at the around Seneca Lake with a full dinner. refers to the infamous 1981 western Pi house for Dolly’s initiation. “Sandless” Looking to late spring, the brothers are party at which a horse (borrowed from beach party refers to the ineffable beach preparing for another “Oasis” beach party, the vet school) was stationed in the parties held in the ’80s in which tons of which is becoming a new tradition, follow- front yard. Friday night will feature the sand were spread in the dining room. ing the huge success of last year’s revival of the Sigma Pi beach parties from back in There are currently 32 people attending from 7 classes. the day. The brothers will continue to have Make your reservations and reunion gift now! an accessible social schedule and plenty of events to enjoy with each other. To sign up, go to the online enrollment webpage via the following link: sigmapicornell.org/150-rsvp_reunion. Please contact Craig Dewey ’06 if you would like information about staying in the house: [email protected]. Make your reunion gift online by visiting cornellsigmapi.org.

Thursday: Saturday: noon–6:00 p.m.: Welcome and Arrivals 6:00 p.m.–8:00 p.m.: Mishka’s Happy at the Pi House Hour & Dinner 6:00 p.m.: Horseless Happy Hour & Din- 8:00 p.m.–midnight: Sandless Beach ner on the Pi House Porch. Party, featuring Howie Gordon ’81 and Men with Big Hips Friday: 8:00 p.m.–midnight: Turkey & Elephants party, featuring Elephant Sound & Bob Higgins Mu Chapter brothers are intramural hoops and flag football champs! page 8 Parents Weekend Brings the Mu Family Together By Gabriel Smuel ’18

Parents Weekend 2016 was held the weekend of April 8–9. We had an exciting time hosting the parents of the brotherhood, both those who came in the past and those who joined us for their first time. On Friday night, the vast majority of parents arrived, and due to the weariness of travelling, we provided families the op- tion of going on small dinners with other families. This night was really up to them, because the weekend at Mu Chapter started bright and early the next day. On Saturday, parents came to the house around 11:00 a.m. and headed off to one of two options. Families of the pledge class of 2015 hiked to one of the tallest waterfalls in the northeast in Taughannock Falls State Park and then had a barbecue. For the remain- ing families, a barbecue was held on Sigma Pi’s Beach. That night, all families returned to the fraternity house for a reception and a dinner prepared by the Pi house’s chef. On Sunday morning, we held a brunch at the fraternity house. After- ward, we said goodbye to our parents. It was a great weekend, and we were very excited to see returning parents and to meet those who were newcomers.

page 9 What’s Next for the Class of 2016?

Michael Adelstein is interested in pursuing a Tim Jalbert is looking for neurosurgery research career in hospitality development, specifically in Connecticut and will see if he can also be an within the realm of restaurants and hotels. His EMT or medical scribe part-time. He is planning interests include real-estate acquisitions, con- to apply for the Health Professions Scholarship cept development, and project management. Program under the US Army for when he does [email protected] apply to medical school. [email protected]

James Alvarez hopes to continue defining Jisoo Kim is undecided. [email protected] his interests as a business development, sales, or marketing strategist in a start-up or as an Benny Johnson plans to go investment analyst in venture capital. In several into the consulting industry after years, he will consider business or law school. graduation. Eventually, he would [email protected] like to attend business school. Robert Attia will be working at Optimity Advi- [email protected] sors, a boutique management consulting firm Andrew Joseph has accepted an offer to join JPM- in New York City. [email protected] organ Chase next year. He will be working in New York City in the global real-estate group as part of George Chalhoub will be moving to a two-year rotational program called the Corporate New York City and working as a clini- Analyst Development Program. [email protected] cal information manager at Jersey City Medical Center. [email protected] Mark Luzzi has accepted a full-time offer as a development analyst at JBG Compa- nies, a commercial real-estate develop- Alec Charbonneau will be attending graduate ment firm in DC. [email protected] school at Cornell to get his Master of Engineer- ing degree in biomedical engineering. He will Joseph Manzi is planning on simultaneously be serving as the Sigma Pi taking a gap year before applying to medical residential advisor. [email protected] school. Gap year options include research, travel, or clinical work. [email protected] Brandon Choi will be working in the trans- portation industry as a product development Zane Mokhiber is interested in working in analyst for Transdev North America, first in the international human-/labor-rights com- Phoenix, Arizona, and then in New York City. munity and eventually coming back to Cor- [email protected] nell to receive a master’s degree in industrial and labor relations. [email protected] Lorenzo De Simone plans on pursuing a career in corporate government affairs or political and Nicholas Ornitz will be starting with McKinsey & economic risk analysis in the US or the UK. Company as a business analyst. He will be work- [email protected] ing out of the Stamford, Connecticut, office and has plans to live in New York. [email protected] Greg Dgheim is currently pursuing posi- tions at various consulting firms and larger Reid Paoletta plans on attending law school investment groups that operate in global for the next three years and then practicing markets. [email protected] entertainment law with a focus in the music industry. [email protected] Zachary Gilbert will be working at J.P. Morgan, doing investment banking in the public finance Connor Riser is planning on teaching in group. [email protected] Charlotte, North Carolina, through Teach for America. [email protected]

Rohun Gupta will be pursuing a mas- Andrew Wald will be moving to ter’s in biology for a gap year before New York and working for Barclays medical school. [email protected] in their equity research department. [email protected]

Christian Zollner will be going to UC Santa Ian Harris will be working as an investment Barbara for a PhD in materials science. He hopes banking analyst in the Financial Insitutions Group to continue his research in solid-state physics with at UBS in New York City. [email protected] applications in sustainable technologies and next- generation computer processing. [email protected] page 10 Brothers Summit Daniel Gerson ’88: In Memoriam By Mark “Woody” Childs ’88 to their buddies while on their honeymoon? Kilimanjaro A person who has this joke he just has to I am incredibly honored to have known share and must get it down and shared an understated yet bigger-than-life friend, right away. That was Dan, always sharing Dan Gerson ’88. He was the funniest and always making us laugh. brother of our era, class of ’88, and saved Dan was extremely modest about his many of us from rotating on a barrel. success. His litmus test for success was his He lived in California for some time af- family. His children, Claire and Asher, are ter graduation before attending NYU Film incredibly beautiful young adults, both in- School. He returned to Cali- side and outside, and his fornia to begin a career as wife, Beau, is a saint, partic- a writer. He wrote movies ularly putting up with Dan we and our kids have seen and his antics. over and over: Monsters, There are two great Inc., Monsters U., and Big achievements that, in com- This past September, Sigma Pi colors Hero Six, which won an bination, make Dan the flew on top of the world. BrothersAdam Academy Award, among most unique person I have Cherubini ’13, Peter Cherubini ’10, and many others. ever known (these are not Zach Smith ’13, along with two other If you were lucky enough in order of priority). friends, summitted Mount Kilimanjaro, the to get quality one-on-one First: early on, Dan made world’s largest free standing mountain and time with Dan, you learned the conscious decision to the highest point on the African continent. that he had the ability to follow his passion, despite It was a challenging six-day journey that truly communicate. Courteous pleasantries the lucrative money in the CAA mailroom pushed them to their physical and mental were quickly replaced with real conversation. or the risk of choosing a writer’s career. Ulti- limits, but they all successfully reached the He would share the good, the bad, the fears, mately, he got to get up every single day and peak and now have that accomplishment to and the anxieties and expect the same from do what he loved with the bonus of being hold on to for the rest of their lives. Before you in return. He pulled them out of you just paid. I know that might not be that unique making their way down the mountain, they as he shared with you. This was his gift, and to Hollywood, but when combined with the were sure to get a few photos of themselves for that, I always loved him. following, Dan stands out. holding up Sigma Pi gear. “Our shared ex- There are so many stories—the Holly- His second greatest achievement is that periences in the Pi house have kept us in wood stories. There was the Steve Jobs, the he loved his wife, Beau. I mean he really touch since graduating Cornell and made Steve Martin, the Will Smith, and the Disney loved Beau. He was in love with Beau from for a great deal of conversation to pass time boardroom story. He was charming and ir- beginning to end. Out of that love, they during the trek, so it was only fitting to pay reverent no matter who was sitting across produced two incredible children, Claire homage to the fraternity at the top.” the table. The bigger the talent, the more and Asher, who share the same capacity for excited Dan was to remind them they still love as their father. got up and put underwear on everyday. So while Dan’s legacy will touch mil- I still have a bunch of postcards Dan lions in the future through timeless mon- wrote me over the years, including some ster movies, his most important legacy, his from his honeymoon. Who writes postcards true “body of work,” is his family.

Aaron Klein ’12 Joins Chicago Cubs Aaron Klein ’12 start- and development to evolve their career in ed his career as the young- sports sales and the business of baseball. Nick Wint ’15 (left) on duty. est director of football op- Aaron grew up in upstate New York and erations in Division I. He graduated from Sweet Home High School. recently accepted a new He then enrolled in Cornell’s School of position, joining the Chi- Industrial and Labor Relations and began cago Cubs’ front office as working for Cornell football as a student a member of the sales de- manager. Upon graduation, Aaron was velopment program. Launched in 2013, the immediately accepted into the Johnson Cubs Sales Development Program (CSDP) is School, something that is very rare and only responsible for outbound efforts in corporate happens to top students. He continued to outings, flex packs, and all new season-ticket work for the Cornell football program dur- Hanging out in Ft. Lauderdale: sales. The program’s goal is to sell tickets ing his two years of business school. He Agustin Martinez ’17, Kurt Bosshardt ’83, and build relationships with local businesses holds a BA in industrial labor relations and Fernando Cevallos ’17. while providing team members with training an MBA from Cornell.

page 11 Mu Alumni News & Notes

“Many thanks for your congeniality at the ed meeting / With the brotherhood repeat- time of my visit in June 2015 during Re- ing / Through the year, Sigma Pi / Bonded Deceased union,” writes Peter Romeo ’55. “I had a by our cross of gold / Marching forward, as Daniel R. Gerson ’88 delightful reunion with seven of the eight of old / Hail to thee, Hail to Sigma Pi!” He February 6, 2016 Mu men on the main-level terrace over- adds that “the music is even better.” Get looking University Ave. It was the best back in touch with Anthony at 5807 Lake- Honor a deceased brother with ‘suds’ (and only ‘suds’) I enjoyed that day. shore Dr. N., Holland, MI 49424. a memorial plaque; visit There was no charge for one verse of ‘ ’Twas sigmapicornell.edu/150-giving-memorial.asp in the Merry Month of May,’ which I sang John Boldt ’70 recently returned from solo. I was amazed that it was unfamiliar a three-week trip to Peru. “We spent the am also the engineer for our local fire de- to the young lads. Another tradition that first week with a driver/guide, visiting pre- partment and respond to medical and fire needs to be restored. Again, thanks for Incan civilizations on the west coast north (structure and wildfire) calls.” Share some your hospitality and great sunny afternoon, of Lima to learn more about their rich cul- of your stories with John; write to him at which totally destroyed my antiperspirant. tures, innovative architecture, and fantastic [email protected] or at 71 Camino Carry on!” Keep in touch with Peter. Write artistic abilities. We view many of the pre- Pacifico, Santa Fe, NM 87508. to him at [email protected] or at 309 mier artifacts in museums near the sites Canterbury Rd., Rochester, NY 14607. and/or in Lima. Another week was spent After 30 years in the “Great(?) State of New on a Lindblad/National Geographic expe- Jersey,” Erica and Michael Reiner ’78 have “Sticking close to home these days,” writes dition to the Upper Amazon, where we moved and have begun their next chap- Richard Pew ’56. “I play bridge once a viewed 79 species of birds and 12 species ter in Weston, Connecticut. Michael says: week and am working on writing a mem- of mammals. We also met local people to “Come visit!” Drop him a line to plan a visit: oir.” Find out all the details by writing to learn how they lived on/with this mighty [email protected]; 187 Steep Hill Rd., Dick at [email protected] or at 27 Wellington river. Brother Peter Hellmold ’70 with his Weston, CT 06883. Ln., Belmont, MA 02478. girlfriend visited us in Santa Fe, and we had a great time showing them some of the his- Tom Owens ’83 has The year Anthony D’Amato ’58 became tory, natural beauty, amazing artwork, and been nominated by a brother (1955), he wrote a rousing and marvelous food our hometown is known President Obama memorable march for Sigma Pi. He sent in for. We also visited Brother James Klock and confirmed by the the lyrics: “Hail to thee, Sigma Pi / As we ’70 in Evergreen, Colorado, in conjunction United States Senate sing with our hearts beating / In our bond- with attending a Fleetwood Mac concert. I as a brigadier general in the Air Force Re- serve. Don’t forget to Gift From Sigma Pi Alumnus salute! Congrats TO! Sean MacGregor ’07 writes in: “My wife David Picket ’84 to Cornell just gave birth to twins, so I have been a bit tied up. Thanks! It is our first: one boy, A gift from David Picket ’84 and his apartment units. Since joining the fam- one girl. All are doing well, but it has been wife, Rona, to the College of Arts and Sci- ily business in 1991, he has overseen the a crazy week.” Send your congratulations to ences, the Department of English, and its company’s new project-development busi- Sean at [email protected]. creative writing program funds summer ness through a period of unprecedented writing fellowships for MFA students and growth in the firm’s 80-year history. David other initiatives in the department. has a BA from Cornell University and a JD The Pickets were from Columbia Law honored on September School. In 2015, Da- 11 when the college re- vid and his wife made named the English depart- gifts to the College of ment offices in honor of Arts and Sciences and the Picket family. to the Department of David is the president English and its cre- of Gotham Organization, ative writing program Inc., a fourth-generation, to fund summer writ- family-owned, real-es- ing fellowships for Cornell-Hobart lax game in Florida (L–R): tate firm that has devel- MFA students and Kurt Bosdhardt ’83, Coach Moran, Chris oped and/or construct- other initiatives in the Kane ’78, Jon Fordin ’80, Jarett Wait ’80, ed more than 35,000 department. Alex Bosshardt ’82, Tim Hawes ’82

is published regularly by Mu Chapter of Sigma Pi Fraternity at Cornell University for its friends and members. Alumni news is always welcome and may be emailed to [email protected], or sent to: Alumni Records the MUSE Office, Mu Chapter of the Sigma Pi Fraternity, P.O. Box 876, Ithaca, NY 14851-0876.