M. Leslie Stearns '87, Past President
West Hollywood, CA
Grinnell Major: English and History

After graduating from Grinnell in 1987, Leslie Stearns attended Loyola Law School in Los Angeles, Calif. She completed school in December 1989 and took the bar in February 1990. After passing the bar and attending graduation, Leslie began her career at the Los Angeles County Public Defender's Office where she has just celebrated her thirteen-year anniversary. Leslie is currently assigned to the downtown branch office where she works with drug addicted clients through Proposition 36 and drug court. Prior to drug court, Leslie was assigned to felony trials where she handled cases ranging from simple possession of drugs to murder and sexual assault.
Leslie is very active in bar associations. She was president of the Mexican American Bar Association in 1998 and was installed as the Secretary/Treasurer for the Women Lawyers Association of Los Angeles. Leslie is also president of the Public Defenders Association, an internal office association, and is a magician member of the famed Magic Castle in Hollywood--but don't ask her to do any tricks because she won't.

Samuel B. Perlman '90, President
Baileys Harbor, WI
Grinnell Major: Music

Sam Perlman '90 has lived in Door County, WI since January 2001. He currently serves as economic development manager for the Door County Economic Development Corporation, providing assistance to new and existing businesses, administering three revolving loan funds totaling $5.2 million, and providing leadership for workforce development, telecommunications improvements, business retention initiatives and the development of attainable housing in the county. He is also a contributor to Door County Living magazine. In his limited free time, he is an avid bicyclist in summer and a broomball player during the winter. He previously worked as the program director of the Peninsula Art School in Door County. In his past lives in Chicago and New York City, Sam has worked as a talent agent, a marketing executive and a dot-communist. He has a B.A. in Music from Grinnell; he was Student Government Association Concerts Chair for two years and spent a lot of time with the late, great Professor John Mohan and the Russian and Eastern European Studies program. In September 2002, he married Mariah Goode '90, and in January 2005 they welcomed their first child, Thelonious (Theo) Jacob Goode, to the world. In July 2007, Theo welcomed his baby brother, Trenowith (Trey) Blair Perlman, into the family.

Mala Adiga '93
Chicago, Ill
Grinnell Major: Spanish
Alumni Networks Committee

Marc Bass '88
Salem, OR
Grinnell Major: Chemistry
Pioneer Fund/Development Committee

James H. Bowhay '81
Western Springs, IL
Grinnell Major: Political Science
Election and Member Development Committee

Jim Bowhay graduated from Grinnell in 1981, with a major in Political Science. Since obtaining his law degree from the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana, Jim has practiced law for more than 20 years, first in Madison, Wisconsin, and since 1990 in Chicago, Illinois. Jim is a partner with Figliulo & Silverman, an eighteen-lawyer firm, focusing his practice on commercial/contract disputes, legal and accounting malpractice claims, and securities cases. He lives in Western Springs, Illinois with his wife, Cindy, a high school teacher. They have two children - Sam, 19, and Ruth, 17. In addition to Alumni Council duties, Jim is a governing member of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and active in bar association activities.

Mary Brooner '71
Bethesda, MD
Grinnell Major: History
Pioneer Fund/Development Committee

Joan Vander Naald Egenes '58
Bluffton, SC
Grinnell Majors: English and Education
Pioneer Fund/Development Committee

Joan attended Grinnell College from 1954-57. After graduating from the University of Iowa in 1958, she taught middle school, high school, and junior college English and Journalism in both private as well as public Iowa schools. Since 1961, Joan has raised four children, built three houses and one ski condo, worked on a Master's Degree in Education, and served on numerous national, regional, state, county, and local volunteer boards including Youth and Shelter Services of Boone, Story, and Hamilton counties, Des Moines Metro Opera Guild and Council, Auxiliary to the Iowa Dental Association State Board, and the Iowa Psychology Board of Examiners. During her three terms on the Boone, Iowa, City Council, Joan chaired Community Protection, Human Resources, and Wastewater Treatment where she was responsible for a $2 million dollar plant renovation and addition as well as to obtain the bonds to finance the project. In 1991, Joan founded and served as CEO of a consortium of several businesses in Des Moines, Iowa, called Global Educational Services. Currently, she helps care for two of her five grandchildren and serves on the Class of 1958's 50th Reunion Planning Committee.

William Ingram '53
Ann Arbor, MI
Grinnell Major: Comparative Literature and Classics
Communication Committee

Bill Ingram was active in theater at Grinnell, where he majored in Comparative Literature and Classics. He graduated in 1953 and, because the US was militarily engaged in Korea at that time, he was immediately drafted into the army. During his military service he was assigned to the nuclear test site in Nevada and was on-site for seventeen test explosions, some twice the size of the Hiroshima bomb. Upon his discharge in 1955 he returned to school, receiving his MA from Columbia and his PhD from Penn. A fellowship allowed him to write his dissertation in London, during which year he was hired to be a professor at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, teaching literature, which he has been doing ever since. As a Michigan faculty member he has served on three contract negotiation teams with unionized employees, has been director of the University’s oldest living-learning program, director of the undergraduate college’s writing program and of its Great Books program, and chair of graduate studies in his department. He was nominated by his students for a university-wide teaching award, which he won. His wife Betty is Canadian, also a PhD, also a university professor. They met at Penn, were married in Ottawa, and now live in Ann Arbor. They have one grown daughter (born in London), a University of Toronto graduate, who now lives with her husband and daughter in Connecticut.

Robert S. Killion '90, Presdent Elect
Philadelphia, PA (by way of Le Grand, Iowa)
Grinnell Major: American Studies
Grinnell Concentration: Gender & Women's Studies

Rob Killion who graduated in 1990, learned about Grinnell from his grandfather, Donald "Mose" Killion, who worked in "the Cage" (the PEC's equipment room) for many years until he retired around 1980. He was a leader in the unionization of Grinnell's hourly workers. Rob's grandmother, June Killion, worked as a "maid" in Mears. They loved "the college kids" and were really happy (and perhaps a little shocked) when Rob became one of them. Rob lived in Younker his first two years and then became a Southie (Read and Haines) his last two years. While at Grinnell, Rob was most involved with student government outside of class. He still mourns the fact that he missed they heyday of Relays and the Pub by only one year (the drinking age changed to 21 with the class of '90), and can't imagine Wayne Moyer as anything other than a very dignified senior faculty member. After Grinnell, Rob attended law school at the University of Iowa. He obtained a position with a non-profit organization that helped train journalists in ne wly democratic countries. After that, he spent ten years as assistant director of admission at Colorado College, associate dean of admission at Amherst College, then director of admission at Haverford College. The summer of 2004 Rob returned to his non-profit roots and became the executive director of Common Application Inc., a company that provides a single admission application -- both electronic and paper -- for more than 300 selective colleges and universities around the country, including Grinnell.

Jeffrey W. Kohlman '66
Alpharetta, GA
Grinnell Major: Economics
Alumni Relations Committee

After graduating from Grinnell in 1966, Jeff went on to Villanova Law School, graduating with a J.D. in 1969. He served as a staff attorney with the Interstate Commerce Commission, living in Washington, D.C. until moving to Atlanta in 1973 to enter private practice. He remained in private practice as a partner of a small firm until he was appointed as an administrative law judge with the Office of Hearings and Appeals, Social Security Administration in 1982. He became chief judge of the Bronx, New York office, serving there through 1988, when he returned to Atlanta, also serving as chief judge. He continues to serve as a judge in Atlanta. Jeff is married to Bronwyn Kohlman, with two children, Zachary and Alexandra
Zachary serves in the Navy, currently in Italy, and Alexandra has just entered her freshman year at Alabama. Jeff's primary hobby or interest is golf, which he plays frequently, but with only so-so results. He officiates tournaments and serves on the Georgia State Golf Association Scholarship Committee.

Dean A. Lerner '74
Des Moines, IA
Grinnell Major: Psychology and General Science
Alumni Relations Committee
Election and Member Development Committee

Dean Lerner graduated from Grinnell in 1974 with bachelors degrees in psychology and general science (chemistry emphasis). After working on a masters degree in psychology, Dean changed course and earned his doctor of jurisprudence from Drake University. After private practice and work as a civil rights specialist with the Iowa Civil Rights Commission, Dean served as an Iowa Assistant Attorney General for sixteen years. During his career in the Attorney General's Office, Dean specialized in litigation. He worked in the Consumer Protection Division, the Transportation Division, the Special Litigation Division, the Tort Claims Division and the Environmental Law Division. After leaving the Attorney General's Office, Dean served three years as Iowa's Chief Deputy Secretary of State. His is currently the State Director of the Department of Inspection and Appeals (DIA), appointed by Governor Chester J. Culver. DIA is a large Executive Branch Agency primarily responsible for inspection, regulatory, and administr ative law functions on behalf of the State and Federal Government. Dean and his wife Deana, also a graduate from the class of '74, live in Des Moines.

Judy Mahle Lutter '61
St Paul, MN
Grinnell major: History, minors in French, General Science and Education
Alumni Relations Committee - Chair

Judy Mahle Lutter graduated from Grinnell in 1961 with a major in history, minors in French, general science and education. She has been a teacher in both the secondary and higher education. Judy founded a non-profit organization, which she headed for 20 years before retiring in 2002. She remains chair of the board of directors. Judy lives in St Paul, Minn. and does whatever she pleases as a retiree which includes spending lots of time with four young grandchildren, biking, running, skiing, cooking, gardening, etc.

Avram C. Machtiger '74
Pittsburgh, PA
Grinnell Major: Psychology; Elementary Education Certificate
Communication Committee
Alumni Awards Committee

Avram Machtiger came to Grinnell after living in London, England throughout high school, and spent his Grinnell years going home. With two masters degrees (counseling and public health) from the University of Pittsburgh, he has had an eclectic career, beginning on the frontlines of a psychiatric hospital, then working in community mental health with children, adolescents and families, and doing an age thirty-something shift into the bigger programmatic and issues arena. For the past 20 years Avram has been a program, organizational development and fundraising manager in health and human services, education, and business (including teen suicide prevention, public education advocacy, organic foods marketing, and alumni development). Avram currently directs the Pittsburgh Local Performance Site of the Pennsylvania/MidAtlantic AIDS Education and Training Center, providing HIV/AIDS-related training, education and consultation to health care providers throughout Pennsylvania. He has volunteered for Grinnell for many years, and is on the board of directors of the American School in London Foundation. Avram lives with his partner and their three dogs in Pittsburgh during the week, escaping on weekends to mega-rural Morrison Cove, Pa.

Karmi J. Mattson '97
Minneapolis, MN
Grinnell Major: Political Science
Alumni Networks Committee
Alumni Awards Committee

Karmi Anna Mattson fled to Grinnell from South Dakota and graduated in 1997 with a political science major and a concentration in gender & women's studies. Following graduation, she spent a year in the Lutheran Volunteer Corps. She then parlayed her experience coordinating the Grinnell College Blood Drive into full-time work in Donor Recruitment at Memorial Blood Centers of Minnesota. She spent several years working for a U.S. Senator, and is currently employed as an Analyst at the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis. On weekends, she works as a trainer for the Mystery Shopping Providers Association, traveling the country teaching classes on mystery shopping. Karmi Anna has been the Class Agent for the Class of 1997 since graduation, and she is also the GRASP Coordinator for the Twin Cities. She serves as President of her ELCA congregation, University Lutheran Church of Hope, and is Chairperson of the Lutheran Volunteer Corps in the Twin Cities. She holds an MBA degree from the Carlson School of Managem ent at the University of Minnesota. She is married to Matthew Fujinaka, a native of Ankeny, Iowa.

Ellen McDonald '81
Kansas City, MO
Grinnell Major: Political Science
Alumni Networks Committee
Election and Member Development Committee

A 1981 graduate of Grinnell College with a B.A. in political science, Ellen McDonald continued her studies at the London School of Economics and earned a masters in international nonprofit management from the School for International Training in Brattleboro, Vermont. Her career then took her to the United Nations, as she joined the International Peace Academy, training military and diplomatic officers in peacekeeping and conflict management. Following an all-too-brief career as a stay-at-home mom raising Emma, now 15, and Ryan, now 12, in Kansas City, Mo with husband David Buck '81, she has served in a variety of management positions in the nonprofit industry for the past 20 years. After her award-winning tenure as executive director for the Caring Program for Children, she co-founded a management consultancy business, Mershon & McDonald L.L.C., in 1997 which serves the philanthropic community. Her work with early childhood education, the arts, AIDS/HIV, and urban planning calls on the breadth of her liberal arts education. Ellen has served on many levels as a volunteer for Grinnell College, having given tours to prospective students as a freshman to serving as a regional coordinator as a "not so freshman".

Marc Bass '88
Indianapolis, IN
Grinnell Major: Physics
Alumni Networks Committee

P.Carter Newton '77
Galena, IL
Grinnell Major: History
Communication Committee
Election and Member Development Committee

Carter has worked on community weekly newspapers since graduating from Grinnell. In 1979, he began his career at The Galena Gazette. In 1982, he began buying into the business. In 2001 he and his wife, became sole owners of the newspapers. In addition to his newspaper work, Carter is president of the Community Development Fund of Galena and will be president of the Illinois Press Association in 2007. He is also part of a group of community leaders who is creating an organization to research the feasibility of building a President Ulysses S. Grant Interpretive Center/Museum in Galena.
In addition to work and community activities, Carter plays in a music group at the Galena United Methodist Church in Galena and has begun exploring the backwaters of the Mississippi River.

Dorothy Smardack Palmer '62
Grinnell, IA
Grinnell Major: History and Political Science
Alumni Relations Committee
Alumni Awards Committee

After graduation in 1962, Dorothy Smardack Palmer traveled to Malawi in central Africa where she taught in an Anglican Mission secondary school as a Grinnell College Travel Service Scholar. At the end of her year in Malawi she was married in the mission church to Harold Phillip Palmer, a Grinnell businessman. They returned to Grinnell where they have made their home for the past 45 years. While raising a family Dorothy completed her teaching certification and an M.A. in education. She spent most of her working career as an administrator in the Office of Alumni Affairs and the Office of Admission at Grinnell College. Dorothy left the college in 1996, but contines her role as a volunteer in church and community and devotes much of her time to her passion for quilt making, and her involvement in several quilt guilds, including a local guild which she helped organize. She served two terms on the Alumni Association Board of Directors, 19 years as a class agent and has re-joined the Alumni Council this fall. Dorothy and Phillip have two daughters and five grandchildren.

Renee Bourgeois Parsons '96
Urbandale, IA
Grinnell Major: Mathematics
Alumni Relations Committee- interum chair

Samir S. Sashikant '00
Minneapolis, MN
Grinnell Major: Political Science
Alumni Networks Committee

Samir Sashikant grew up in Texas and graduated from Grinnell in 2000 with a degree in political science. During his Grinnell years, Samir was an SGA senator, a member of the political science SEPC group and a driving force behind making Waltz parties as glamorous and fun as they could be. After graduating from Grinnell, Samir worked at a variety of advertising agencies in Minneapolis, New York and Los Angeles. Most recently, he finished the M.A. program in Communications Management from the Annenberg School at USC and is currently working as a Research Manager in Los Angeles. His focus is on brand management, marketing strategy, and marketing communications. In keeping with an interesting post-Grinnell experience, he considered being a lawyer, worked on a Texas governor’s campaign and spent a few months working for Cirque du Soleil.

Kirpal Singh '97
Denver, CO
Grinnell Major: History
Pioneer Fund/Development Committee

Louellen Stedman '85
Silver Spring, MD
Grinnell Major: American Studies
Communication Committee

John M. Swenson '61
Don Mills, Ontario, Canada
Grinnell Major: Philosophy/Religious Studies
Communication Committee - chair

Jack Swenson graduated from Grinnell in 1961. He has recently retired after 36 years as president of his family's manufacturing company based in Toronto, Canada which produces the Wahl brand of electric hair clippers for the Canadian market. He moved to Canada in 1967 after majoring in philosophy at Grinnell and receiving his M.B.A. from the University of Chicago. He served in the Peace Corps in Colombia, and worked for Procter & Gamble in Cincinnati prior to settling in Canada. He and his wife, Catherine, have four children and three grandchildren plus another due in March. He has served on many industry and community boards, was a Boy Scout leader for several years, is active in his church, and is a distance runner and avid outdoorsman. Jack's retirement in 2004, gives him more time for these and other activities. One activity is membership in Friends of Colombia, an organization comprised of ex-Peace Corps Volunteers who served in Colombia from 1961 to 1981 when the program ceased operating in the country. Jack recently returned from a February conference held in Cartagena, Colombia attended by 186 of Peace Corps Volunteers to Colombia. Of those in attendance, four were Grinnellians. During the conference the highest award granted to a non-Colombian was presented in person to the Friends of Colombia organization by Colombia's President Alvaro Uribe and Colombia's Ambassador to the U.S. Carolina Barco.

Gretchen Osterhof Thomson '62
Boston, MA
Grinnell Major: Music
Alumni Networks Committee

A 1962 graduate of Grinnell with a major in music, Gretchen Osterhof Thomson went on to earn a master of music degree and a master of arts in business degree with a concentration in arts administration. She has made a career of connecting audiences to the arts through teaching, presenting and producing the performing arts. For 17 years, she was a private teacher of piano and a recitalist as an accompanist and as a member of a piano duo. She taught public school music in Minnesota and Wisconsin and founded two concert series, at Frank Lloyd Wright's Unity Temple and in rural Wisconsin. While on the staff of the Wisconsin Arts Board she established the Wisconsin presenters' network and founded and directed Wisconsin Dance on Tour. She served on the board of directors of the Greenlake Festival of Music (with Grinnell's Mirecourt Trio as artists in residence) and was the chairman of the board of the Wisconsin Historical Keyboard Society. She also served as the executive director of the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra and of the Ten Chimneys Foundation, dedicated to preserving the estate of Lunt and Fontanne. She is the mother of two grown sons, grandmother of two grandsons, and is happily married to author/theater manager, Philip Procter, and living in Boston.

Matthew E. Welch '96
New York, N.Y.
Grinnell Majors: Spanish and Theatre
Pioneer Fund/Development Committee - Co-chair

Matthew graduated in 1996 and moved to Chicago for his first job, which—surprisingly—made good use of his Grinnell major and campus activities (GEAR). Matthew joined Home Access Health Corporation as a bilingual HIV counselor, where he counseled clients in English and Spanish as they used the nation’s first home-based HIV testing system. Grinnell also led Matthew to his next job, when a colleague in the Admissions office sent him a job posting from a listserv for international education professionals. Matthew was hired by The Rotary Foundation to coordinate international scholarship exchanges to Spain and Latin America. During his years the Foundation, Matthew moved from managing programs to managing the programs’ staff and operational systems—where he discovered that he preferred to focus on how an organization can operate more efficiently and effectively. That discovery led him to conquer his fear of math and pursue a graduate degree in management and quantitative policy analysis at Columbia University. Mat thew earned his MPA in 2004 and has spent the past several years running operations for the K12 Learning Services division of Kaplan, Inc., most recently as its Vice President for Operations. Matthew lives in New York with his partner Michael and dog Hallie (named for Hallie Flanagan ’11). His sister, Lizz Welch Ellis ‘98 is a Grinnellian also, and Matthew hopes that she is raising his niece and nephew to be future Grinnellians.

Lee Weisel '62
Ashland, OR
Grinnell Major: Comparative Literature
Pioneer Fund/Development Committee - co-chair