Elizabeth Rynecki ’91

A crusade to recover Jewish art lost during the Holocaust — Haaretz

The Israeli newspaper Haaretz interviewed Elizabeth Rynecki ’91 ahead of the premiere in Jerusalem of a documentary about Rynecki’s quest to track down the many lost paintings of her great-grandfather, a Polish artist who died in the Holocaust.

“My great-grandfather’s paintings were survivors…with no voice,” she said.

Moshe Rynecki, who lived in Warsaw, was able to hide some 800 of his paintings before the war. Though members of his family survived, including his wife, only a fraction of his paintings have been recovered.

Elizabeth Rynecki ’91 holds her great-grandfather’s self-portrait at the Jewish Historical Institute in Warsaw. (Photograph by Sławomir Grünberg)

Attracting widespread media attention, Elizabeth’s efforts to recover more of her great-grandfather’s paintings include a database of his works and the book Chasing Portraits: A Great-Granddaughter’s Quest for Her Lost Art Legacy.

The paintings “are a powerful reflection of life in Poland before the war that not many people are aware of,” she said. “I felt that I could rescue that legacy and share it with the world.”

• Read the story: “,”  Haaretz, Nov. 25, 2018
  
• Related: “,” New York Times, Aug. 18, 2016

Edmund Muskie ’36

Muskie’s 1968 vice presidential campaign recalled at �ֲ���ý College forum — Sun Journal

Steve Collins of the Lewiston Sun Journal covered a �ֲ���ý panel celebrating the 1968 vice presidential campaign of U.S. Sen. Edmund Muskie ’36, featuring experts and people who had worked with Muskie on the campaign trail.

Edmund Muskie ’36 and supporters at a 1968 campaign event. The location is perhaps New York City; third from left is perhaps Shirley Chisholm, then running for her first term as a Congresswoman. (Burton Burinsky / Muskie Archives and Special Collections Library)

The panelists described a politician who worked to bridge divides and calm clashes, “reaching out to both sides,” said Charles Micoleau, a campaign staffer and later Muskie’s chief of staff.

Hubert Humphrey and Muskie lost the ’68 race to Richard Nixon by less than 1 percent, and Muskie lost his own bid for the presidency in the 1972 Democratic primary. But his high profile and prestige was “a real driving force, a hammer pounding the Clean Air Act through the committee and the Senate” in 1970, said Eliot Cutler, who was Muskie’s assistant press secretary.

“We are the lucky ones who are still here,” Cutler said. Muskie’s role in the history of the 20th century “shaped all of us.”

• Read the story: “,” Lewiston Sun Journal, Nov. 29, 2018.
• Related: “8 reasons why Edmund Muskie ’36 was an amazing political candidate in 1968,” �ֲ���ý News, Dec. 5, 2018

Rebecca Herzig

To shave, or not to shave? How a new generation of women are embracing body hair — Vogue

Women are taking an increasingly laissez-faire approach to body hair, wrote Maya Singer of Vogue. For a historical perspective on women and shaving, she turned to Professor of Gender and Sexuality Studies Rebecca Herzig, author of Plucked: A History of Hair Removal.

Professor of Gender and Sexuality Studies Rebecca Herzig discusses a field project with a student in 2016. (Phyllis Graber Jensen/�ֲ���ý College)

Hairlessness didn’t become a beauty standard until after WWII, Herzig wrote in Plucked. Some second-wave feminists in the 1970s revolted against this standard by condemning shaving entirely, whereas the early 2000s were given to the “Brazilian wax tyranny,” Singer wrote.

Singer characterizes the present age as one of, “I’ll shave if I want to,” and razor companies are taking notice.

“One way to characterize what we’re seeing may be that women are now encouraged to ask—and increasingly expect—brands to fulfill their needs,” Herzig said.

• Read the story: “,” �մDz��ܱ�,��Dec. 10, 2018
• Related: “‘Plucked’: Race, gender, science, medicine converge in history of hair removal,” �ֲ���ý News, Feb. 4, 2015

Rebecca Fraser-Thill

Should you go back to work for your old company? — MarketWatch

For a list of factors to keep in mind if you’re thinking about returning to a previous workplace, MarketWatch writer Meera Jagannathan turned to Lecturer in Psychology Rebecca Fraser-Thill, a Pivot career coach.

Lecturer in Psychology Rebecca Fraser-Thill speaks about �ֲ���ý’ Purposeful Work initiative at the 2016 new student Orientation. (Phyllis Graber Jensen/�ֲ���ý College)

Fraser-Thill recommended asking friends and family what you were like at your old job, thinking about the relationship you had with your old boss, comparing your current workplace to your old workplace, and — if you decide to make the move back — framing the decision positively.

“You’ve taken a moment to really consider your path, and you are intentionally and actively choosing this former employer,” she told Jagannathan.

• Read the story: “” MarketWatch, Oct. 15, 2018

Nathan Tefft

‘It’s Just Math’ — Mainers recreate ranked-choice voting results to test the process — Maine Public

When some argued that Maine’s new ranked-choice voting process is an inaccessable “black box,” Associate Professor of Economics Nathan Tefft replicated the election results on his own and sent his calculations to Maine Public.

Associate Professor of Economics Nathan Tefft teaches a class in 2016. (Josh Kucken/�ֲ���ý College)

Using publicly available voting data and a common open-source programming language, Tefft exactly replicated the results of the election, which used the innovative ranked-choice format for the first time to proclaim Jared Golden ’11 the winner. (Another Mainer did the same using Microsoft Excel.)

“It’s an important idea for me to support trust and confidence in the vote counting process,” Tefft told reporter Steve Mistler. “So I certainly wanted it to be as transparent as possible.”

• Read the story: “” Maine Public, Dec. 2, 2018

Vicki Losick ’01

MDI researcher will use fruit flies to study macular degeneration — Bangor Daily News

The Bangor Daily News covered Vicki Losick ’01, a researcher at the MDI Biological Institute who received a $50,000 grant to use fruit flies to study age-related eye diseases.

Vicki Losick ’01

The grant, awarded by the William Procter Scientific Innovation Fund, will allow Losick to model the “cellular dysfunction” that occurs in age-related macular degeneration, among other causes of blindness. She’ll use fruit flies in her work, since macular degeneration takes hold more quickly due to the creatures’ shorter lifespans.

“With the aging of the population, age-related macular degeneration is increasingly being viewed as an impending epidemic,” Losick said in a press release. “I am deeply grateful to the Procter Fund for supporting research that could lead to the identification of the genetic and cellular causes underlying retinal dysfunction.”

• Read the story: “,” Bangor Daily News, Nov. 30, 2018

Lisa Utzschneider ’90

Lisa Utzschneider becomes CEO of ad-verification firm — Variety

�ֲ���ý alumna and trustee Lisa Utzschneider ’90 has been named CEO of Integral Ad Science, a company that measures the value of digital advertisements and helps prevent fraud, the entertainment trade magazine Variety reported.

Lisa Utzschneider ’90 speaks during a �ֲ���ý Boston Business Network panel on women in leadership in 2017. (Paige Brown ’96 for �ֲ���ý College)

Utzschneider was most recently chief revenue officer at Yahoo and has held executive roles at Microsoft and Amazon. Last year, she was on a �ֲ���ý panel about women and leadership.

“As CEO, Utzschneider will focus on expanding IAS into new global markets and pushing into new ad formats, including over-the-top video and audio,” according to Variety.

• Read the story: “,” �ղ�������ٲ�,��Dec. 12, 2018
• Related: “To be an effective leader, be prepared, speak up, and aim big, �ֲ���ý panelists say,” �ֲ���ý News, Oct. 5, 2017

Martin Benes ’07

Wednesday Workout: hitting the trails with U.S. Para-Nordic and Head Coach Martin Benes — FasterSkier

Writer Gabby Naranja reached out to Martin Benes ’07, who recently joined the coaching staff of U.S. Paralympics Nordic skiing. U.S. Paralympics is a division of the U.S. Olympic Committee

An assistant ski coach at �ֲ���ý from 2009 to 2011 and most recently the Nordic ski director at Sugar Bowl Academy, Benes told Naranja that the coaching philosophy for a para-athlete is the same as for a non-disabled athlete.

“The training principles don’t really change,” Benes said. “Yes, there are things to be aware of physiologically, but in terms of the core principles, it’s not that different.”

“With this level of athlete,” he added, “you’re helping guide them and giving them the framework to be successful and helping them be their own best coaches.”

• Read the story: “,” FasterSkier, Dec. 5, 2018

Larry DiGiammarino ’82

Catching up with…Larry DiGiammarino — The Boston Globe

The Globe’s Marvin Pave chatted with Larry DiGiammarino ’82, who holds or shares �ֲ���ý football records for career and single-game receptions, as well as career and single-game touchdown receptions. He was named a Kodak Little All-American, the ECAC and New England Football Writers Player of the Year, and a Scholar Athlete of the Year by the Maine Sports Hall of Fame.

Now, DiGiammarino is a real-estate attorney in Marblehead, Mass., where he’s on the school committee and the youth football and softball boards.

“I learned through sports to never give up and stay as positive as I can,’’ he told Pave. “If things don’t work out today, there’s always tomorrow.”

• Read the story: “,” The Boston Globe, Nov. 29, 2018

Kristy Andrews ’12

Young camp professionals: choosing careers in Maine, fulfilling commitments to kids — Bangor Daily News

In the Bangor Daily News blog Summer in Maine, Kristine Millard talked to Kristy Andrews ’12, assistant director of Camp Wawenock in Raymond, Maine.

Andrews spent her childhood summers at Camp Wawenock and later became a counselor, working there before and after a stint as an English teacher in Chile. Now, she’s one of a few year-round employees at the camp.

Andrews spoke to the community the camp offers girls, allowing them to “be their true selves.”

“There’s a whole group of people who love you and support you,” she said.

• Read the story: “,” Bangor Daily News, Nov. 13, 2018

Paul Erickson ’74

Don’t Mess With Me: The Strange Lives of Venomous Sea Creatures — Kirkus Reviews

Kirkus reviewed the latest book for middle grades by Paul Erickson ’74: Don’t Mess With Me, which catalogs 28 venomous sea creatures from the deadly blue-ringed octopus to sea jellies.

“He goes on, now following the phylum order, to introduce a variety of other sea creatures including bloodworms, the blind remipede (the first known venomous crustacean), the crown of thorns sea star, the bluespotted stingray, the reef stonefish, and the lionfish,” the review says.

“Though the text in this entry in an admirable series may be challenging for young readers, the subject has guaranteed kid appeal,” it added.

• Read the review: “,” Kirkus Reviews, Dec. 4, 2018

How can a recent college graduate become a leader, and, once in a leadership role, how can she be effective?

At a panel in Boston on Sept. 28, Lisa Utzschneider ’90, former chief revenue officer at Yahoo; Peggy Koenig P’17, co-CEO and managing partner at Abry; and Katie Burke ’03, chief people officer at Hubspot, shared their experiences as leaders in their companies and offered advice to young women starting their careers. Here is some of that advice:

1. Be prepared and flexible.

To discover your strengths and interests, Koenig said, “get as many different experiences as you possibly can. Expose yourself to as many disciplines — like the liberal art education you get at �ֲ���ý — or as many different styles of doing things as possible.”

2. Show, Don’t Tell.

Whether you’re looking for a job or promotion, Burke said, “show, don’t tell.”

In other words, don’t just talk about a possible interest. “One of the blessings and curses of a liberal arts education is that we are all curious people, she said.

But a career in not based on what “you might be interested in. I want to hire people at Hubspot who have demonstrated their interests by actually doing something about it.”

3. Train yourself to speak up.

Speaking up, Utzschneider said, is like working out. “I worked it like a muscle,” she said. “I said, ‘This is going to be like exercise every single meeting. I’m going to write out my notes; I need to make sure I make three points in the first five minutes.’ I did it over and over and over until I got to the point where it’s second nature.”

4. Ask smart questions.

Utzschneider is eager to give advice to younger leaders, but they should come prepared, she said.

“The more prescriptive the person is — [telling me] specifically what they need versus a vague, ‘Hey, let’s have coffee and I’ll learn about your 20-year career,’ — the more I am able to contribute and give back and doing it in a way where it’s constructive and it’s not a waste of time.”

Burke agreed. “Show another person respect by not just asking for their time but doing a little bit of homework and asking some really smart, thoughtful questions.

5. Find a sponsor.

Try looking for sponsors, rather than mentors, Burke said.

The two are different: “Mentorship is connecting with people you admire. Sponsorship is asking those people to match what you’re talking about with action and advocacy on your behalf. It’s asking people to open doors for you or recommend you for positions.”

6. See everyone as a teacher.

“Rather waiting for the second coming of the person who can teach you everything that you need to know,” Burke said, “assume that everyone you meet knows something you don’t,” and learn from them.

7. Lead by example.

The best advice Koenig ever got was that everyone was always watching. “You lead by example, and that means how you act and behave and treat people is really what people are going to key in on.”

8. Know your workplace.

At Microsoft, Utzschneider started at the “most junior level that you could start at. I walked miles in the shoes of almost every function on my team. I think that makes me a very authentic leader.”

9. Communicate. And communicate.

“I try to be as transparent as possible,” said Utzschneider. “I over-communicate. I communicate often. I try to lead the way I want to be led.”

10. Create opportunities for other leaders.

There is enough room for everyone, Burke said. “I believe there are places for women, and the best male leaders create space for these female leaders. The best men I ever worked for, including the men I work with now, create active opportunities.”

11. Think big.

Try for the grand slam, and it’s OK to strike out once in a while. “Anyone can have average ideas. So do courageous, remarkable things,” said Burke, who added that she’s a “big believer in crazy big ideas: that power of loneliness and courage, being the person raising your hand and saying, ‘I have a really good idea and I don’t actually care if anyone else thinks I can do it.’”

The �ֲ���ý College Board of Trustees has selected four new members, representing the technology, venture capitalism and financial services industries, President Clayton Spencer announced today. All �ֲ���ý alumni, the new members are:

• Chris Barbin ’93, chairman, CEO and co-founder of the technology consulting firm Appirio;
• Gregory Ehret ’91, CEO and an executive director of PineBridge Investments;
• Garth Timoll ’99, managing director at the venture capital firm Top Tier Capital Partners; and
• Lisa Utzschneider ’90, chief revenue officer at Yahoo! Inc.

Chris Barbin

Christopher Barbin ’93

Barbin is the chairman, CEO and co-founder of Appirio, a technology enabled consulting firm that helps companies move into cloud computing platforms. Appirio is based in Indianapolis, has more than 1,250 employees across seven  locations worldwide, and is supported by the industry’s largest crowdsourcing community of developers, designers, and data scientists.

Appirio’s clients include Facebook, Google, Amazon, Intuit, and The Four Seasons, among others. Founded in 2006, Appirio is the leading independent cloud consultancy in the world.

Barbin has been named a World Economic Forum Technology Pioneer, attending and speaking in Davos and China. He has also been an Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Finalist and has been recognized by The New York Times for his leadership philosophy. Prior to Appirio, Barbin held senior leadership positions at Borland Software, webMethods, and W.W. Grainger, Inc.

At �ֲ���ý, Barbin majored in political science, and ran cross-country and track. He resides in Chicago, Pittsburgh, and San Francisco. Barbin and his wife, Lori, have three children.

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Gregory Ehret ’91

Ehret was named CEO and an executive director of New York-based PineBridge Investments in January 2016. The firm, a global multi-asset platform, has approximately $85 billion in assets under management.

Ehret joined PineBridge after 20 years with State Street Global Advisors, the investment management division of State Street Corp. where he most recently served as president. For five years, Ehret led the firm’s business in Europe, the Middle East and Africa from its London office where he built a track record of growing business in both developed and emerging markets.

Ehret graduated from �ֲ���ý in 1991 with a degree in economics and earned an MBA from Boston University. While at �ֲ���ý, he played on the varsity lacrosse and the club rugby teams.

Ehret has served as an Alumni in Admission volunteer and has helped with the college’s recruitment of students overseas. He has also hosted receptions and networking events for the �ֲ���ý community in Boston.

Ehret and his wife, Barbara, live in Boston with their two sons.

Garth Timoll

Garth Timoll ’99

Timoll is a managing director at Top Tier Capital Partners, a venture capital firm based in San Francisco. At Top Tier, Timoll focuses on the firm’s secondary and co-investment efforts. Timoll was also a vice president at Portfolio Advisors, and a senior associate at Fairview Capital Partners.

Last year, Timoll was selected as one of the Toigo Foundation’s “40 under 40,” which honors those in the financial sector that exemplify professional excellence, ethical leadership and community service.

Timoll graduated from �ֲ���ý in 1999 with a degree in psychology and a minor in economics. While at �ֲ���ý, Timoll was a Benjamin E. Mays Scholar and a member of the varsity basketball and track teams. He has since provided students with career advice through the �ֲ���ý Career Development Center. In addition to his �ֲ���ý degree, Timoll earned an MBA from Cornell University.

Timoll and his wife, Phyllis, live in San Francisco with their two children.

Lisa Utzschneider

Lisa Utzschneider ’90

Utzschneider is one of the tech world’s leading sales and advertising executives. As the chief revenue officer at Yahoo, Utzschneider leads the company’s sales and operations organization globally.

Utzschneider joined Yahoo in 2014 from Amazon.com. She was credited with building Amazon’s advertising business into a $750 million annual enterprise. Prior to her six years leading Amazon’s advertising efforts, Utzschneider spent a decade in various advertising roles at Microsoft, including general manager of the company’s sales and accounts services group.

Utzschneider has been honored in the Adweek 50, Business Insider’s “Most Powerful Women in Mobile Advertising,” New York Business Journal’s “Women of Influence” and Working Mother’s “50 Most Powerful Moms.”

Utzschneider graduated from �ֲ���ý in 1990 with a major in English. She also has a master’s degree in public administration from New York University.

Utzschneider and her husband, Okan, live in New York City with their two daughters.